Future Tales
by The True One-Winged Angel
Summary: I announced in an earlier chapter, I was going to make a story of one-shots that would show stories that I may, or may not, make. I may give permission to some to adopt some of these stories if I feel like they are worthy. T.O.W.A Stories
1. AU

**Here are my stories:**

**By T.O.W.A**

**Please review them. I may make them into real stories later on.**

Page one: Naruto/PoP

Page two: Naruto/X-Men evolution and Marvel in general

Page three: Naruto/Kingdom Hearts

Page four: Naruto/DC

Page five: Naruto/Vampire universe story. It is just something I threw together when I was bored

Page six: Bleach/Rosario Vampire. Yes, it isn't a Naruto fic. But I think it's not half bad.


	2. Naruto: Sands of Time

A man, dressed in dusty, tattered clothes, jumped onto a balcony in an unknown area. He didn't say a word, but walked slowly into the room connected to the balcony, as if he knew the place by heart.

_Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time and I can tell you they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am or why I say this.__ Sit down and I will tell you a tale like none that you have ever heard. _

_Know first, that this isn't some story of just the good guys beating the bad guys. Far from it. But for starters, let's begin this tale at the beginning, when my team and I are heading over into Sand country for a little…investigation mission._

_Unfortunately, at the time, I was…ignorant. This wasn't going to be an average mission. Far from it. But, sit back, relax, for this may be the only time I can speak calmly on my life's tale. It all started after we received my team's first C-rank mission…_

* * *

**Naruto Uzumaki: Sands of Time…**

* * *

"Sand…sand…more sand…this is hell." Uzumaki Naruto cursed, as he felt a sudden pang on the back of his head.

"SHUT IT, NARUTO! YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE SUFFERING! JUST LOOK AT POOR SASUKE-KUN!" Came the yell from a most obnoxious, pink-haired girl, Haruno Sakura, as Naruto rubbed the spot she hit him at from behind.

"Hmm." Sasuke, the last Uchiha murmured, as he walked along side their sensei, Hatake Kakashi. They were currently walking through the vast desert that was Sand country, looking for the meeting point of their employer.

Five days ago, the team had come in to receive a higher rank mission, after catching an elusive cat. After the Hokage had explained the levels of missions, with Naruto blissfully ignoring him, team eight had come in to receive a mission.

Now, they had already completed a good two C-rank missions. So, it seemed to be making more sense to the Hokage and Iruka, that their team be given the mission, even though team seven was here first.

This didn't exactly go well with Naruto, who threw a fit. But, luckily (or not) the Hokage had a second mission. A mission by an archaeologist in Suna who, despite Naruto trying constantly, could not pronounce his name. The mission was simple. Protect the team of archaeologist from bandits and such while they investigated an ancient tomb of sorts just recently found by nomads of the country. But, since the place was secluded, and no one expected much to happen their, it would have been a sad, boring mission until they were done excavating the new ruins.

And now, after five days of traveling, they were nearing the meeting point.

"Now remember, best behaviors." Kakashi reminded, as Sasuke merely 'hmmed' again, Naruto nodded while still holding his head and Sakura nodded while staring at Sasuke. Kakashi sighed to himself on his…unorthodox team, before covering his eyes as he looked ahead. And stopped dead in his tracks, followed by his team.

"What's up, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked uncertainly, adjusting his jacket that was wrapped around his waist. Kakashi had recommended it, since they were in the desert and he didn't want Naruto to die of heat stroke. As Naruto spoke, Kakashi dropped his supply bags and went into a dead straight line forward at amazing speeds.

The genin looked between themselves, before dropping their backpacks and supplies and following their sensei.

"…Whoa…" Naruto said in complete surprise, as he looked all around him, followed by his teammates. They had followed the sensei quickly to the campsite they were currently at. It looked like a demon had run through the, surprisingly, large camp. The tents were torn apart. The supply crates demolished and scattered. And the archeologists…

Blood was on the ground, tents, supply crates, everywhere.

"Team," Kakashi began firmly, getting the genin's attention, "we're splitting up. Search for any survivors. Sasuke, you're with me. Naruto, Sakura, you're together. We'll search north, you two search south." Kakashi informed firmly, as he began to run north quickly, Sasuke followed in pursuit. Naruto looked over to Sakura's frightened face.

"Come on Sakura-chan." Naruto said with slight fear, as she nodded slowly and ran alongside Naruto, moving south.

The same thing. Broken tents, boxes, etc. Naruto looked around the bloodied campsite, trying to locate anyone that…was…

"Sakura-chan." Naruto called, as Sakura came out of a tent to his side.

"What?" She asked in fright.

"Have…have you noticed that no ones…here. No bodies. Just blood." Naruto asked, as Sakura looked around and her eyes widened. He was right. Just blood. No signs of footsteps, bodies being dragged. It's as if the bodies just…disappeared, leaving their blood behind.

"Naruto…you're right." Sakura said in surprise. Naruto was the village idiot. Literally. The fact he'd seen something she hadn't, the smartest girl in the academy, was…surprising. "But then, what happened here?"

"I don't know. (Sigh) Come on." Naruto said in confusion and slight irritation. He didn't like the feeling of this place. Everything was so…creepy. Like a plague had passed by as fast as lightning. "Sakura," Naruto said after searching for ten minutes through the place, finding nothing but broken stuff, "I think we should-"

_Free me…_

Naruto stood, frozen in place, as the cold voice, that seemed to flow with the wind, spoke to him. For reasons unknown to even himself, his face went pale, his hands began to tremble, and if he could have looked at his feet, he would have noticed that a small trace of sand was circling him like a ring. He was petrified in…fear. He'd felt fear before. The villagers made sure of it. But this…was…different. He was unsure of the feeling. It was so…new to him that it felt unusual and scary.

"Naruto?" Sakura began, seeing his almost ghostly face. Suddenly, the sand around him fell back to the ground, his face regained it color, and he could breathe again, something he realized he hadn't been doing. He clutched his chest and looked up to a worried and surprised Sakura, as he panted for breath.

"S…something isn't right…here." Naruto said in between breaths, as he looked down the camp to see Kakashi and Naruto quickly running up to him.

"What happened?" Kakashi ordered, as Naruto looked up to him, a questionable look on his face.

"Huh?"

"That pulse. What was it?" Kakashi ordered, as the Sakura and Naruto looked between one another.

"What pulse?" Naruto asked, as Kakashi eyed the two suspiciously.

"You…didn't feel it? But it came from right around here." The genin shook their heads, as Kakashi sighed and looked around the place. "Well, come on. Have you finished looking around?"

"No Kakashi-sensei. We were just finishing up." Sakura said, pointing down the path to further destroyed tents.

"Come on. Sasuke and I couldn't find anyone. Hopefully, the farther back we go, the better chance will have of finding someone." Kakashi said hopefully, as he began to run south with the genin, looking around for any movement or anything interesting.

It didn't take them long.

"…Whoa…" Naruto said, mouth open, wide eyed, same as his teammates, as they looked upon something…big.

A…door. It didn't seem so surprising, but it was connected…underground. Like a storm cellar. If it wasn't any stranger, it had…symbols. Symbols all over it.

One showed a picture of, what appeared to be, the sun. Next, was a city of sorts in smoke, soldiers piling in.

Than there was a shape like a sword or a dagger. Lines protruding around it, like it had radiance.

On the top, there were…words of some sort. Words that neither of the team understood.

There were…creatures that looked deformed and…dismembered. Like the zombies from movies.

There were various other symbols on the door, but one stood out the most. It was directly in the middle of the door. A large…_hourglass_ symbol.

Now, this was freaky and all, but the worst of all was this.

It was covered in red, as well as the ground around it. It specified one thing. Who, or what, did this was in there.

"Kakashi-sensei…what is this?"

"I don't…know Sakura. But we were ordered to protect the archaeologist. We'll have to go inside." This surprised the genin.

"What?! Are you nuts?!" Sakura yelled, as Kakashi looked angrily at her.

"There may be survivors. We have no choice. As ninja, you swore to give your life for the village and its people. Some of these men here _were_ Konoha men. We have to at least check." Kakashi said firmly so there was no room for argument. Sakura stared meekly at her sensei before nodding. Sasuke just nodded. And Naruto continued to just stare at the door.

It felt…strange. Like a rush of cold air was hitting his body from the door…while warm air hit his back from the sun. It felt…too weird.

_Help me…please…free me…_

The voice again, but unlike last time, Naruto didn't go pale or scared. But, the sand around him did circle his feet. This didn't go unnoticed by the three other ninja. "Naruto?" Kakashi called to the staring boy, who looked over to him, his eyes focused and ready. Weird for the blond.

Naruto nodded, as the sand fell to his feet. Kakashi stared at the blond subordinate before him, before nodding and reaching out for the hourglass door handle. He pulled-

CREAK…CRASH!

The door fell open with a loud creak, as it fell to its side into the sand. Inside were stairs going down. "Move out team. Sasuke, Naruto. You're in middle. Sakura, you're in back. I'll be front." Kakashi instructed, as he began to walk the stairs into the ground, followed by Naruto, than Sasuke, than a nervous Sakura.

It was dark. Like walking into hell, there was no light besides the door above to the campsi-

BOOM!

…Now, there was no light. The damn door closed itself. Creepy. And if things weren't worse-

"EEEEEEEEGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!"

Sakura just _had_ to scream.

So now, they had no light. Whatever may have been down here most likely knew we were here, thanks to the scream. "Well, I don't think we'll be going out the same way. Hmm…well, move out team. Keep your hands to the walls so you don't lose your balance. I have nothing to burn, so a torch wouldn't work. Any Jutsu I have would take to much energy to continue with and I may need it for…whatever is down here." Kakashi instructed, as the team began to walk down the staircase.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei, who authorized this mission?" Sakura asked after five minutes or so of walking. This question, as the three male ninja could tell, was in fear on who could have asked them to do such a mission.

"We received a messenger bird a week ago authorizing the mission."

"From who?"

"One of the archaeologist."

"I mean a name?" Sakura asked growing slightly annoyed at her lazy teacher. Kakashi had told Naruto and Sasuke the name while Sakura was…busy.

"Well, I must admit, it is a strange name. She, I believe it was a woman, went by the name of K-"

Kakashi suddenly stopped speaking, as suddenly a light enveloped them and they were blinded. And they fell. And by fell, I mean the stairway turning into a slide and they flew down like they were rocks on an avalanche. They kept falling down through the cavern, Kakashi trying to slow the descent with chakra, but…it didn't work. It was like the slide was on ice. He couldn't hold on.

After what seemed like an eternity of falling in complete darkness, which only got worse as Sakura felt the need to scream the whole way down like the stupid fan-girl she was, the team eventually fell into a room. A _big_ room, the passage way behind them locking away.

"Whoa." Naruto said…again, as he looked around the room that could _clearly_ have held in the entire Hokage office inside. The room had dim torches lying on the walls, lighting the room in an eerie, but clear, light. The walls held nothing special, just plain walls. But, it was easy enough to know where they had to go. At the very end of the room, a door stood proudly, similar runes on them like the one above ground.

The only clue that told them that it was the right way to go was the trail of blood on the ground going to the door. "Okay, let's go!" Naruto yelled loudly, as he raced forward.

"Wait, Naruto! It may be a trap!" Kakashi warned, as Naruto stopped running.

"But people could be hurt!"

"And if we go running into imminent danger, we won't be helping anyone if we're dead."

"YEAH, NARUTO! USE YOUR HEAD LIKE SASUKE-KUN WOULD!!" Guess who.

"Hmm." Sasuke smirked, as the genin crossed his arms in a way to say he was superior. Naruto glared at Sasuke, before sighing as Sakura than glared at him. Kakashi had a point.

"Okay, so what now?" Naruto asked, beginning to walk forward to his advancing sensei.

"Well, we tread lightly and slowly. I don't know if there are any traps or-"

Crackle.

The team went silent. Then, they looked at Naruto with glares. Naruto just sweat dropped. "Okay, THAT, wasn't me." Naruto said honestly, although they didn't exactly believe him. He was known to be…danger-prone.

Crackle.

The team looked to the middle of the room, as rocks began to fall into the middle. Then, they slowly looked up at the ceiling of the room. And nearly had a heart attack.

Two big, white eyes stared at them. But it got even freakier when it-

SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!

…Shrieked. The team quickly got into defensive positions, as the eyes suddenly fell to the floor, the owner's body now quiet visible as it blocked the path to the stairway at the other end of the room. Didn't improve things, though. The thing was as big as a two…no, _three_ houses! Long pincers on its sides, a hard red armor of skin covering its body, and if things couldn't get worse, it had a long, dangling, menacing looking tail that dripped, what Naruto guessed from the sharp point, was poison.

The team of genin froze at the sight of the monster, as the Scorpion, as Kakashi saw what it was, eyed them up slowly. Its eyes drifting through the team like it was trying to figure out who to kill first. Its eyes dropped onto the ready-for-battle Kakashi, before it turned its head slowly to the Uchiha and…

Sasuke's eye twitched. The monster seemed to almost…laugh at him. He took a step forward, before Kakashi moved in his way, telling him to stand back.

The Scorpion, after having its laugh, turned slowly to Sakura and…well; it made the Uchiha's small laugh seem like nothing in comparison. The room, in which they were in, shook like it was in an earthquake. Although, unlike the Uchiha, Sakura just screamed and got into a fetal position. Naruto looked angrily at the thing, covering his own fears up as the room shook.

_Do not fear it…conquer it…pass him into the next room, and victory you shall receive. Free me…please…_

Naruto didn't even flinch at the silky smooth voice, which continued to get louder as he continued this mission. By now, he could tell it was female. But what she was asking was both difficult…and tempting. It sounded to Naruto like, what this woman suggested, seemed possible. That he could take on this beast. Even in his own fears, that simple comment…filled him with belief and confidence. It was weird, but he really didn't have time to look into this new feeling, as the Scorpion turned its head in Naruto's direction.

It paused, as it analyzed the boy with its white eyes. Naruto didn't even flinch. He stood his ground, looking firmly into the beasts eyes. The rest of the team seven, including a not-wanting-to Kakashi, believed the monster would begin to laugh again.

But it didn't. In fact, it almost seemed uncomfortable looking at Naruto, as its pinchers began to fling around, clasping around like it was trying to grasp air. The team looked on in surprise at the creature, before looking over to Naruto's…_calm_ face. That was…unnatural. Than, if things didn't get weird enough, Naruto began to walk forward to the beast, ignoring Kakashi's orders to get back.

_And I should listen to a lazy, boring, always reading porn, jackass of a teacher, who hasn't teached me, or my team, in anything sense we started being a team? I don't thing so!_ Naruto thought, surprising himself a second later at the anger of these new thoughts. They were true, unfortunately. Kakashi was a good friend, he supposed, but absolutely _the worst_ teacher in all of the elemental countries. No lie. He just sucked that bad.

So, back to reality, _now_ Naruto stood directly in front of the beast, the voices still coming to the boy, giving him confidence even though they most likely didn't mean to. Naruto looked into the face of the giant Scorpion, their eyes looking into one another's eyes. They just continued to look on, as the Scorpions pincers came extremely close to Naruto, pinching as they neared.

But they did not grab him. The two just stood their, as the Scorpion continued to look at the boy with soul-piercing eyes. Naruto continued to look at the beast, his eyes unnaturally emotionless. Something wasn't right about this place, and the longer he stayed in here…well, the more he felt…different. He needed to get out of here. Now.

Naruto moved quickly to his kunai in his back pocket, pulling it out in the basic guard stance in front of his body, as the scorpion seemed to smile and struck at him with one of his pincers. The pincers flew past were Naruto once stood, as Naruto dodge rolled forward, stood up quickly, and stabbed forward.

Right in to the eye of the Scorpion.

SSSSSSHHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!

The Scorpion roared in fury, its pincers roaming the room, hitting the walls around the room and causing large piles of rock to hit the ground. Naruto pulled back from the foe, as the tail of the beast hit the ground, not inches from his body, throwing him back from the impact of the ground. Naruto rolled back before quickly regaining his position and looking at the furious Scorpion. The tail pulled itself out with effort, before pulling back and striking at Naruto with speeds that would have made Gai surprised.

Naruto watched in surprise, as the tail came down on him, watching wide-eyed as…well, his life really didn't flash before his eyes. But, he did continue to here that little voice in his head.

_Wow, you're useless. Even Prince wasn't this incompetent. (Sigh) well, I guess I can help you a little. Follow my directions, or this test is gonna kill you._

Naruto didn't need to be told twice, as he listened intently to the voice. Everything seemed to slow down, as he quickly dodged to the left of the tail, holding his ground from the impact of the tail and not even contemplating how fast he just moved a moment ago. Naruto than quickly jumped on the stuck tail, stabbing the kunai into the hard red hide of the beast's tail. It didn't go even an inch in, but somehow was placed in sturdily enough.

The beast roared again, as the flew upwards, Naruto keeping his hands firmly on the tail as he looked around for any incoming-

_Pincer, JUMP!_

Naruto did just that, as he pushed off the tail with both legs, back flipping off and barely dodging the pincer that, milliseconds later, grabbed a hold of the tail, hard, releasing another loud shriek from the beast. Naruto looked down at the pincer, and, once more, stabbed into the pincer, holding on for dear life as it was flung around to get rid of the boy. Naruto crunched his teeth together, looking around for any possible attack.

That's when he looked down to his lodged kunai and turned wide eyed. Sand. Sand was coming from the beast instead of blood and…it was closing the wound. Naruto looked at surprise at the pincer, before looking quickly at the eye of the beast, as time seemed to slow down. Same thing. The big, white eye he stabbed moments ago…was healed. "Shit." Naruto muttered. _Where is Kakashi-_

At that thought, a roar came from the beast, as a…scream came from somewhere. No…it was something…high-pitched. Like…birds. Thousands of birds.

Naruto looked quickly downward, as he saw his sensei drive his…_electrifying_ hand into the beast. This was followed by several loud barks of dogs, as they bit around the creature's body.

Again, it roared. Loud.

The creature, with a surprising amount of accuracy, swiped down with its free palm at the new attackers, knocking them away like flies. The dogs puffed into smoke from the brutal hit to the wall, as Kakashi hit the wall, creating a crater in it, before falling to the ground. He strained to stand up, but was barely able to look up to the Scorpion, which lifted, once more, its tail up to the sky, getting ready to strike down the already down Kakashi.

"I DON'T THINK SO!!" Naruto yelled, as he through a kunai at the bottom of the creature. Than, the noise around them seemed to halt, as a soft 'psst' sound was heard.

The thing is with exploding tags on kunai is this. One, the more chakra you put into them, the faster they will explode and the bigger the explosion will be. The shorter amount, the longer it will go before exploding, and the explosion will be smaller.

Now, Naruto was never good with control, but extremely high amounts of chakra. So, in the moment, he basically put the same amount of chakra he would with around ten clones. And that my friends, was never a good thing.

And, to make this a little less dramatic, let's just say, the explosion was b-

**BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM**!!

…Sorry, couldn't stop myself.

The explosion was HUGE! The ground beneath the beast exploded as well from the impact, as the explosion through dust and rocks in all directions. Than, as Kakashi looked on, a sense of déjà vu came to him. And he hated this feeling, as the ground beneath the Scorpion and the latching-on genin…broke apart.

And they fell. The monster roared, as it fell, it pincers and tail flailing around, as Naruto held on tightly to the pincer, closing his eyes and waiting as the inevitable came.

The last thing Kakashi saw, before he himself lost consciousness, was the blond falling into darkness, not once screaming or yelling out for help. The same way…the same way Obito went. Piles of rocks falling on him. Kakashi let a lone tear fall, as he soon lost consciousness.

Naruto…Naruto had sacrificed his life…to save his own, and his teammates.

And Kakashi knew that it was all his fault.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down. The fall had been an…experience. Darkness had enveloped his senses. His sight, his hearing, his feeling of touch, gone. It was as if the very life around him had…disappeared.

He didn't know how long he fell.

He didn't know when he hit the ground.

He didn't know how long he was on the ground before he woke.

But he did no one thing.

"Aww…fuck that hurt." Naruto groaned, as he slowly and quiet painfully got up. He groaned in pain, as he held on to his left arm, which was bleeding heavily between his elbow and hand. He looked around in the darkness of the crash area, noticing the rough outline of, what he guessed, was the Scorpion. It wasn't moving, a bright note to this little adventure. Naruto began to look around for any sign of life, before looking upward to where he fell from.

There wasn't even a hint of light from the battle area with the Scorpion. "Just great. How about that? I actually do SOMETHING right, for once, and I find myself in hell!" Naruto yelled, as he looked around some more, only to see darkness. He scratched his chin in thought, before he felt something…odd. He looked downward towards his pants and…groaned. His orange jacket he had tied around his waist as he walked through the desert was…gone. "AWW, GREAT!! THAT WAS MY FAVORITE JACKET!!" He yelled in anger, as he sat down on the ground in anger. _What now? I'm stuck he-_

_Close your eyes._

"What…" Naruto looked around himself. The voice…it sounded…like it was right next to him. "Who's-"

_Close your eyes…and I shall give you the sight to see forward…I shall show you the way…_

Naruto had absolutely no idea what the woman was asking of him. But, apparently, it had partially to do with closing his eyes. So he did.

Darkness.

Than, a soft, almost scraping sound. Like to rock being scratched together.

Than light. A beautiful…light surrounded his sights.

Naruto covered his closed eyes, before the light suddenly vanished. Startled, Naruto slowly opened his eyes, blinking several times at the scene before him. He wasn't in the dark room anymore. He was in a similar room like where he fought the Scorpion. Except, one thing made a big difference to the design.

Directly in the middle of the room, was a statue of a woman. A beautiful woman, in fact. The design, smoothness, emotion…hell, it looked like someone was captured in stone. But, besides the obvious beauty the statue held, one thing caught his eyes even more than the statue. The statue's hands were held out, protruding a blue glow from them.

Naruto looked curiously at the hands, before being strangely compelled to go over to the statue. So, he slowly crept to the statue, and looked into the woman's hands. And was…amazed.

In her hands, laid a blue, expertly crafted…dagger.


	3. Crimson Haze: Antihero of the Xmen

**Author's Note, READ: **This story is an X-Men: evolution and Naruto cross over. As you know, I love crossovers. I'm good with them. Most people love them. Note, I got this idea while reading the beginning of **The True Monster**by lord of the land of fire. The beginning, anyway, is like the starting points of **The True Monster**. Throughout the rest of the story, it will be my own story. Note, again, my Naruto is a bit biker/gangster like. Kind of like Logan. You'll see why. Note, he still shows caring ness. Just a little roughly now and then. Hopefully, you'll all like it.

Currently, pairings are unidentified. I was thinking along the lines of Rogue. Rogue personality is always nice, and with Naruto's down-to-earth new attitude it could be a good fit. But, there is also a character that I have thought of to bring in that would be perfect for this guy, as well. I may bring her in. I have an idea for her to come in. Personal favorite of most. And she has the rough background just like Naruto…as well as her attitude would knock Naruto's lazy ass up and get working. She'd be great. Have to think on it though.

That is all.

Enjoy the Crimson Haze: Anti-hero of the X-men.

-

**October tenth, somewhere around seventeen years ago…**

In the streets of New Orleans, a blind woman was walking down the sidewalk, clad in blue jeans and a white t-shirt under her black coat, her cane held in front of her, guiding her path. She was in her late twenties, with mid-length brown hair, and sightless blue eyes.

Her name was Irene Adler, but she preferred to call herself "Destiny."

She was a mutant, with the ability to see into the future.

As Irene passed by an electronics store, she overheard the news. "_…strange weather occurrences in the lower Atlantic area leave oceanographers and many other scientists of the study of the weather baffled…_"

Irene continued on her way, heading for the bus stop. She reached it, sitting down on the bench...and gasped as her gift took hold, showing her the future. She didn't always have control, but she thought she had some idea of what she would see. They were usually so accurate, her visions. She usually had such a grasp on her powers. Or, so she thought.

Her gift showed her something she had never seen before, not in any of her other visions. She saw a massive…fight. A Fox of enormous size and a ferocious look in its eyes, its _nine_ tails wailed around the forest area it was in, destroying everything they hit. Then, a man riding a just as enormous…frog, or perhaps a toad, stood before the beast valiantly, a young baby cradled in his arms.

Then, a light blinded her view. The light came from the man. She didn't understand. But the next thing she knew, she could see clearly, as something was being drawn from the beast, as it flew at the man and…

…No…not at the man…the energy that flew from the beast, the _red_ energy, flew not at the man-

But at the baby.

It hit the baby dead on, as the baby wailed at the enormous power coursing into itself. The man laid the baby to the toads head, as he fell over on his side, eyes shut, a writing of some sort appearing on his stomach that appeared visible now, as Irene saw the shirt…explode to reveal the seal.

Then, it was over. Just, 'pop' done.

But, one last thing flew through her mind. A small part of her prophecy powers. The beginning, no doubt.

"The child of the Fox…shall be our savior…" she gasped...and then her visions completely left her.

-

**Present…**

Naruto sat all alone on the bus except for the driver. He looked out the window at the sunlight and the beautiful countryside that proceeded from his old home town to his new destination. He wouldn't see this again for a while.

But it didn't matter to him. This was just another part of life. Just like his banishment from Konoha ten years ago. It was simple to understand. A little weird how this whole thing happened.

But, eh, whatever.

Eight years old. The Villagers hadn't been…kind…

But, that was a story for another time. For now, let's return back to when he and his sensei, Iruka Umino first came to their apartment in the huge city of the country of New York…

-

**Nine Years Ago…**

A very nervous and frightened eight year old looked around at the huge apartment. There was so much space! And there was no garbage anywhere and there were no spray painted signs on any of the walls saying, 'Die,' 'Demon,' or 'Monster.' And best of it was that the apartment was far, far away from all those horrible people who hated him.

"Well Naruto, what do you think?" A friendly voice called from the door way, as the owner of the voice pulled in their luggage and other supplies into the large apartment.

Naruto looked up to see the smiling face of his caretaker. "It's really great Iruka-sensei! Are we really going to live here?"

Iruka smiled and nodded. He didn't hold it against Naruto what had been done to him on that night his parents had died. To Iruka he was a fellow orphan who was lonely and didn't deserve the treatment he'd received. That was why he had volunteered for this mission.

The only other person to volunteer for the mission was Maito Gai…no further explanation.

"That's right Naruto. We'll be living here until you turn eighteen."

"What happens then?"

"Then we go back to Konoha."

The boy suddenly froze. "No! I don't want to! I don't want to go back to where they hate me, to where they want to kill me!"

Seeing the boy's fear and knowing how justified it was, Iruka quickly knelt down before him and gently put his hands on his shoulders. "It's all right Naruto. Ten years is a long time, the Hokage thinks that after that much time the people will finally be able to accept you."

"But why do I have to go back at all?"

"Naruto," Iruka spoke carefully. "You understand why you are special and why so many people have… difficulty accepting you right?"

Naruto slowly nodded. The Hokage had explained everything to him before sending him away. "I am…the Kyuubi."

"No you're not!" Iruka said sharply. "And don't ever say that again! You are the Kyuubi's container, what is called a Jinchuuriki. You hold the Kyuubi within you but that is not who you are. The jailer is not the same as the prisoner."

"If that's true then why does everyone hate me?" Naruto demanded. "The whole reason we're here is because they almost killed me." He closed his eyes and shivered as he remembered the smell of gasoline and pain like nothing he'd ever felt before. "If that's true why would they do that to me?"

Iruka put his arms around the boy and hugged him tight. "Because when people are frightened they do terrible things some times. But the fault is theirs not yours, you are not to blame, not for any of it. Do you understand?"

"I…I guess so, but why do I have to back there?"

Iruka sighed sadly. "Because Naruto, one day you will have great power. For good or for ill you are the living legacy of the Yondaime Hokage. (Note, Iruka does not know Naruto's parentage. He is referring to the fact that it was the Yondaime that placed the Kyuubi into Naruto.) And the power you wield will be used in service of the village."

Naruto looked up angrily, but did not speak the thoughts that were in his head. Iruka and the old man were the only ones in the whole world who had ever been decent to him; he didn't want to say something that would make Iruka hate him.

"Listen Naruto, how about we save the unpacking later and go get something to eat? I'll be cooking most of our meals from now on but tonight we can eat out and do some exploring."

"Cool!" Naruto said excitedly and much of his bad mood was dispelled. "Can we go get some ramen?"

Iruka cringed. He wasn't going to like this. "Uh, bad news Naruto. Here, in this city…there aren't any ramen shops for hundreds of miles around. This place doesn't have any ramen."

Silence…

"WHAT?! WHAT KIND HELL OF A PLACE IS THIS?!" He asked/yelled, as Iruka sighed. This wasn't going to be easy.

"This, Naruto, is the city New York City." Iruka said, as Naruto just looked at him like he was insane.

"WHAT DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT THERE IS NO RAMEN IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN PLACE?!"

-

**Present**

"Hey, kid, where ya' headed?" The bus driver asked. They'd been driving for some time now. Maybe some light conversation would pass the time. Leaving New York, while a short distance, could be boring without anything to do.

Naruto looked up to the front of the bus, duffel bag at his side, and shrugged. "1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center or something." Naruto said in english, thanks to one of the lessons Iruka-sensei had given him. Along with other things, of course.

Knowing that he got the adress right, but with his whole outfit get up, he decided not being exactly sure made it better. A blood red t-shirt covered by a fine, and pricey, leather jacket. Blue jeans with several tears in them. His hair had grown out around the back, giving it a wild look. (Think, if you wish, Riku's hair from KH2, for a good a look)

The bus driver nodded, knowing the place was close to where he was to drop the boy off and kept on driving. Naruto could have just driven to the school, seeing as he had a car…or cars, at his disposal. But, sometimes just having time to just relax and think over some things was a nice thing to be able to do without worrying about riding off the road.

Naruto looked out the windows again, thinking back to the past. Somehow, his mind strayed back to the day Iruka left him for the village once more…

Or, at least, Iruka had _tried_ to get back to the village…

-

**Five Years Ago…**

The twelve year old opened his eyes. Standing over him was a serious and sad looking Iruka. "What's the matter Iruka-sensei?"

"Naruto, you have to get up, I've just received a special message from the village."

"Uh, o.k." He glanced at the clock next to his bed, it was almost midnight. A still sleepy Naruto followed Iruka into the living room. There Naruto spotted something that really woke him up. "Iruka-sensei, why is you luggage packed? Are we going somewhere?"

Iruka looked at the boy sadly. This was going to kill him. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I've just been ordered back to the village."

"What?! But what about me?" Naruto yelled, immediately, and fully, awake.

"I'm afraid you're to remain here, alone."

Naruto stared up at his precious sensei in stunned silence. "You're…you're leaving me?"

"I don't want to Naruto, but I have to follow the Hokage's orders."

"No!" Naruto shouted, terrified at the thought that he was being left all alone. "The old man…the old man would never do that!" Naruto tried to reassure himself more than Iruka at the moment.

Iruka took a deep breath. "Naruto…the Sandaime Hokage is dead."

"Wh… what?"

"He has actually been gone for about two months now. The letter doesn't go into detail, but two months ago there was a sneak attack on the village. Konoha beat back the invasion, but at high cost. The Sandaime was among those who died to protect the village."

Naruto stood there in silence for a moment as the words sunk in. _Slowly_ sunk in. "The…the old man is really gone?"

Iruka nodded. "I'm afraid he is, and I'm afraid it took this long for me to hear about it because they only just installed the Godaime Hokage." Iruka shook his head. "It seems the man they finally got for the job was actually the _third _choice. They offered the position to both Jiraiya and Tsunade, both the Sandaime's pupils, but they both refused. So instead, Danzo, a war hero of the village, was made the Godaime Hokage. The new Hokage wants every available ninja to return to the village immediately, that's why I have to leave right now Naruto."

Naruto glomped on to Iruka's waist. This couldn't…this CAN'T be true! "Then take me with you! PLEASE!! I'd rather go back to that place where they hate me than be all alone again!"

Iruka put his arms around the boy and tried to comfort him. This was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do. "I'm so sorry Naruto. I would gladly take you and have you stay with me in the village. But the orders for you are specific, and you have to obey them just as I do." He smiled at him. "Don't be afraid Naruto, I've already taught you what you need to know to defend yourself and I know you'll be all right. Just as I know we'll see each other again one day. Just believe, Naruto."

Naruto knew a ninja wasn't supposed to cry but he couldn't seem to help it. He pressed his head against Iruka's chest and cried. "Pleeeeeease don't go! Please Iruka-sensei! Don't leave me!"

Naruto felt Iruka's hands gently cup his face to have him look upward. Naruto was surprised to see that Iruka was crying too. "I'm so sorry Naruto, I know how unfair this is, but I will give you something very special before I go." Iruka said with a small tear coming from his own eyes, as he slowly slid his hands to the back of his head and took off his hitai-ite. "This isn't official Naruto; technically you are only a citizen of Konoha and will not become a ninja until you return to the village. But," Iruka tied the hitai-ite around Naruto's forehead. "So far as I am concerned you are a ninja. Be strong and remember everything I have taught you and I know we will meet again one day."

And with that, Iruka grabbed his luggage, and walked slowly out the door. And at that last instant, as the door made a small click to signify its closing, that was the instant that when the small boy was, once again, alone and began to cry on the floor at where they stood moments ago, holding the hitai-ite to his eyes to cover the tears that were poring from his eyes.

Then, as he lay there, he quickly looked upward from the spot he laid, about a minute, as he heard the ring of three…loud, piercing sounds from outside of the apartment…

-

Since that time no one else from the village had ever come out to check on him. He'd received no further help with his ninja training and no news about the village, the countries, or anything else.

All he got was a monthly check. No Jutsu scrolls. No information. Nothing. All he had was the three basic Jutsu, a few other Iruka had thought he would need, and his Taijutsu and other forms of fighting skills.

Oh. And one other thing, to. A certain 'gift' from his tenant. One word described it. A gift that often times scared him when he even thought about.

The gift.

The **power**.

He remembered when he first activated it. It was the most exhilarating moment of his life. He-

"Kid, we're here." The bus driver said from the front of the bus, as Naruto looked up from his day dreaming to see that they were at the drop off sight. Naruto blinked a few times to get himself out of his stupor, before nodding and grabbing his duffel bag, giving the man his money, and walked out of the shuttle bus and out into the open sunlight of the town.

The town had a calm feeling to it. Shops all around the place. Plenty of people walking around during the beautiful fall day, the orange and wildly colored trees.

_Damn, this place is different from New York. I miss it already._ Naruto thought to himself, wondering, like New York, if it had a steady crime rate like New York did. It was fun to crack down on a few criminals when you're in the right mood, after all. Being the ninja he was, and no one else having similar abilities that he had, helped.

He placed some old sunglasses over his eyes, giving him an edge on his biker look once more, before slowly walking down the street to his destination.

_And a little help from everyone's favorite neighborhood Spider-__Man helped._ Naruto thought with a smirk at his old partner, as he made his way through the town towards where this 'institution' was supposed to be at.

_Probably shouldn't be even considering going to this school…but, I __**was**__ supposed to be going home when I turned eighteen, as well. That sure as hell didn't happen._ Naruto thought, as he continued to walk through the town towards this 'institution.'

_Just how did I get myself into this place in the first place?_ This is more of an answer to our readers than to himself.

-

**A few weeks ago…**

"Whoa. We hit the jackpot!"

"Shh, quiet; don't want the Spider freak finding us!"

"Tsk, the guy's a myth. There is no such thing as a 'spider man.'" One of the thugs said in obvious disbelief, the six men currently counting the 'loot' from the recently robbed bank and enjoying the privacy in a dark lane a mile or so away from the bank.

"Yeah, well, what about the other guy? That 'Crimson Haze' guy? He's supposed to be ten times worse." One of the crooks said, getting a chill just thinking of the guy. "They say he sees in the dark, can smell blood, has a voice given to him from the devil himself, and makes your blood grow cold by the mere thought of him…brrr, I'm believen the latter of the rumors, no doubt."

"Ah, be quiet. The sooner we count this stuff out-"

"The sooner I send you to jail."

The group jumped in surprise, as a voice, cracking and piercing through the full moon light of the night, was heard. The quickly grabbed there guns, searching the area for anything that moved or looked abnormal. Although, the light from the ends of the alleyway didn't give them much to work with. "It's him."

"Crimson Haze…"

"Ahh, you know me. I'm touched." A laugh, just as sinister as his voice, was heard. "But seriously, come on; was it truly necessary to rob the bank? Honestly? Did those selling girl scout cookies just not do it for ya, ladies? But, I'm feeling a little generous today so I'll give you a choice, we could do this the easy way and you surrender. Or," the cracking of knuckles was heard through the dark alley way, "we could do this the fun way. I'll give you five seconds for your answer. Five-"

"We surren-" One was about to shout, as a hand came over his mouth from one of his fellow thugs.

"Shut up! There's six of us, and one of him! We can take him!" The man said with confidence, before he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Uh, boss, problem."

"What?!" He yelled, seeing the feared look in the man's eyes.

"Where's Jimmy?" The man asked, as the apparent leader looked around the area for their fellow thug. He wasn't there. He was gone.

"Looks like we're doing this **THE HARD WAY**!!" Came the evil voice through the dark alleyway, as the gang of now five member's circled up around one another and searched the area for the noise.

But hell was already upon them.

Suddenly, a glowing red, _see-through_ hand flew from one side of the alley, grabbed one of the thugs, and pulled the kicking and screaming man into the shadows. The screamings stopped when he disappeared.

The men turned in the direction the arm came from; firing in that direction like there was no tomorrow. They kept shooting for about a minute or so, non stop, before lowering there guns slowly, and looking into the darkness.

But they knew, somehow, that it wasn't over.

From the darkness, a figure in a dark hoodie and dark long khaki's, walked out from the darkness, his face hidden from view thanks to the hood. But that wasn't the odd part. The odd part was the glowing red energy that was flowing around the boy like an armor of sort.

The men stood still at the opposing figure, as it looked at them and chuckled demonically, almost. "Say goodnight."

Screams, gun shots, and sounds of bone crunching punches were heard for about five seconds before it went quiet again.

-

About fifteen minutes later, Crimson Haze, AKA Naruto Uzumaki, stood on top of a building side, his energy suppressed back to inside of himself. Currently, he was looking down at the criminals, badly beaten, as they were being escorted by the police to their respectable police cars. They looked like shit.

Naruto chuckled at the scene, as he felt a shiver run down his back and he turned around to see his partner in justice hanging there on the wall. "Well, I see you had a light night on your hands." The wall crawler said, as Naruto chuckled and looked back at the city.

"Yep. As always. Anything on your end of the city?"

"Nothing much. A small car chase. Nothing out of the ordinary." Spider-man sighed, as he jumped towards the edge of the building's edge and looked out at the quietness of the city. "Makes me wish for a little action now-and-then. Box head Tomby been a little to quiet. The Fat King-on-his-Pin must be eating too much, as usual, to make operations in the city work. Heh, and don't get me started on the other villains of this mad house we call this great city of New York. Even bird-brain Vulture could lighten up my mood right about now." Naruto chuckled, as he looked out to the city as well.

"Who knows? Maybe change is just around the corner. But, as much as I hate to say it, I would like a little more chaos on this end of the woods. Something to stir up my mood. A challenge." Naruto said enthusiastically, as Spider-Man just shook his head.

"Whatever. Just be careful on what you wish for. Sometimes, it could bite you in the butt on the things you wish for." Naruto quirked an eyebrow.

"You know from experience?"

"On something that bit me? Yeah, I have an experience. For wishing for stuff I don't have…I have a list. Alphabetical, even." Naruto chuckled, as he looked up to the full moon and breathed in deep.

"Summers coming to an end." Naruto said out of the blue, as a sigh came form the red-and-blue suited man beside him.

"Yeah, sad, really. Got to miss the pleasant weather, the elevated crime in the streets, girls at the pools. Sunbathing, water fights, girls giggling…agghhh…" Naruto chuckled at his friend again. He was a clown, no doubt about it.

"Yeah, got to miss it. But, what can you do." Naruto asked, as he looked towards the direction of his apartment and smiled. "Well, I'll be seeing ya, Wall-crawler." And before Spider-Man knew it, his partner was dashing away, leaping incredible distances and doing amazing gymnastics like he'd been born with the ability to do those amazing things.

Spider-Man sighed at his friend. "Showoff." Was all he said, before he to dashed off in a general direction, having to get ready for school that was coming up, along with a few over-summer homework projects he needed to finish.

Two words: school sucked.

-

Naruto landed on another building, getting closer to his apartment now, when he heard a scream coming from below himself and in another alleyway. He looked over the edge of the building, to see a man in dark clothing and…sunglasses, robbing a red haired and her purse from her.

Got to love night vision. One of Kyuubi's gifts after they…stuck the deal.

Naruto jumped off of the building top, grasping the power within as the cloak surrounded himself in a red cloak of power, as he landed beside the four-eyed thief. The robbee and the robber turned to Naruto in surprise, as Naruto grabbed a hold of the man and lifted him into the air with ease before throwing him at a pile of trashcans. The man, surprisingly, got up quickly, although a little wobbly. "Do we have to do this tonight? Schools starting soon. I have to get some sleep." Naruto said, as he called upon the energy to grab on to the robber.

It did, as the man flew to Naruto's outstretched hand, grabbing the glasses-wearing to-be-robber by the throat. "Now, why don't you give the woman back her purse, before-"

Boom!

Naruto flew backwards, losing his grip on the man's neck, as something…hot, flashy, and powerful hit him backwards into the alleyway wall, creating a well sized crater in the side of the wall of the building for good measure.

Naruto laid in the crater of the wall, slightly dizzy from the blow, and coughed up a little dust. _Haven't been hit that hard since one of Rhino's punches._ Naruto mused, although lucky to not be bleeding. Although, one word did escape himself from the blast. "Ow…" He groaned, as moved to get out of the hole in the wall, only for a red…beam to push him back into it.

Naruto crunched his teeth in frustration, as he felt the beam trying, and succeeding, to break through his cloak. Naruto placed a cloaked claw in front of the beam, pushing it back as he tried to move out of the cra-

Then, he felt himself being pushed, again, into the wall by an unknown force. Naruto struggled, once more, to push himself forward from the impending force he was fighting against, as his eyes strayed from the beam of red and onto the man and woman and man in the alleyway.

His eyes widened.

The man had pulled his glasses off of his head with one hand, and a solid array of red energy flew out of them. The robbee, the girl, was placing one hand to her temple and the other was pointing at Naruto. She seemed to be concentrating deeply on him. The ripples in Naruto's cloak seemed to signify that she was, in fact, doing something to push him back.

Telepathy was an option. He'd seen movies on it. But it was fake…wasn't it? He wasn't the brightest kid in school. A's and B's. But he wasn't the dumbest one there. Not in the least. Quick thinking. It was what he was known for. He may have been one of the smartest kids in the school, if not for his nightly rounds.

But, back to subject. Naruto was starting to feel pain from being pushed like this. He considered going one tail, but that would catch the attention of civilians. Didn't want that.

So, improvising was necessary.

Naruto held onto the beam of energy with one of his hands, as he concentrated on his energy, storing it all into his chest and his arm to stop the powerful ray of eye energy. He waited about ten seconds after storing it, before he…sent it out.

And when you send a pulse of energy that comes from the Kitsune no Kyuubi itself…

Well, it gets messy.

Naruto released the energy of such fury and hatred, pushing the beam, the invisible force, and the man and woman off their feet. Not to mention blowing the wall behind Naruto completely away, causing the building to collapse behind him in a loud crash of noise and chaos.

Naruto fell to his knees, gasping for breath, his red cloak of energy all but gone from that little show, as he looked at the now unconscious teens, he confirmed now, before turning around and seeing the building all but crumble before him. He sweat dropped at the destruction, as well as looked at the chaos in surprise.

The building had been ten stories tall, and moderately wide and thick. And he'd taken it down. He'd _never_ been able to do _that_ before. "Whoa…" Naruto gasped, as he looked down at the fallen teens, unsure of really what to do now.

Thankfully, or not, he didn't have to, as in a flash, another bolt of lightning, he confirmed, nailed himself in the chest, knocking him out with ease.

He simply didn't have the energy to get up. All he remembered seeing before going unconscious was a slim figure with white hair walk up beside him, followed by a man in a…wheelchair?

-

Naruto groaned in pain, as he slowly opened his eyes to where he was at, feeling like he'd just gone twelve rounds with the Sandman, the Shocker, and Electro at once without his powers. Not a good feeling in the least. There were a few enemies in the city to worry about. None Naruto, or Spider-man, had to worry about. Mostly the gang leaders were the problems in the city. But, he was getting off subject.

He slowly pushed himself up from the ground, rubbing his eyes as he stood up, and took in his environment. He was on a roof…somewhere. "Ah, you're awake." Came a calm, relaxed voice, as Naruto pulled a pair of kunai from the sleeves of his hoodie, and turned to the direction from where the voice came from, making sure his hood was still over his head to hide his identity.

"Who are you?" He asked angrily; glad to have a pair of kunai at the ready when ever he left the house. School, 'work,' his training trips during the summers to the Appalachian Mountains, etc. Iruka had taught to always be ready for danger.

The man just chuckled, not feeling any danger from the boy. Most likely because he hadn't brought his cloak out yet. "You may calm yourself, Haze, we, and my colleagues, mean you no harm. I am sorry, however, that we had to find you this way. We didn't exactly know your home address. This seemed to be, at the time, the easiest way to find you." The man said with a smile, as lowered his head in a bow like fashion. "But, where are my manners? My name is Charles Xavier." The man that was talking to Naruto was bald, sat in a well customized wheelchair, wore clothing that screamed that he was either wealthy, or a very educated person. He held up his arms in an 'I mean you no harm' fashion. He spoke quickly to calm the boy down so no unnecessary violence occurred.

Naruto remained cautionary. "What do you want?" Naruto asked, as he looked behind the man to see the boy and girl from before, alright, although looking slightly razzled up. Along with them, a woman in long white hair and, apparently, African origin sat with them. The boy and girl seemed American.

"I will get to that, but, if I may ask you first, how you got your powers?" Charles asked, trying to confirm how the boy got his powers. _Cerebro wasn't even able to locate him._ Xavier mused, as Naruto continued to stand in a guard stance, kunai at the ready.

"Why do you want to know? From what I see, that kid can shoot lasers out of his eyes, and the girl, I guess, and I know this sounds crazy, has mind powers. So either I'm dreaming, or I've put into some geeky Sci-fi film of some sorts. I'd like to think the first option, but my life is so crazy that I don't know anymore." Naruto answered, losing his anger slightly, as Charles chuckled slightly and scratched his chin in thought.

"True, Scott Summers," he motioned to the boy behind him, who just stood passively behind the man besides giving a slight nod in Naruto's direction, "is able to shoot optic, and concussive, beams of energy out of his eyes by taking off special glasses from his eyes. Jean Grey," he motioned to the red-head girl, who gave a small wave in Naruto's guarding direction, "has the ability to move things with her mind. Telepathy, if you will. And my fellow teacher, Ororo Munroe," the African-American woman gave a small wave, as Naruto felt like itching his chest for some odd reason, "she has the power over the elements, as you have seen first hand already. She shot you with that lightning bolt." Charles explained, as Naruto just remained still as he looked everyone over.

Naruto nodded once, trying not to flick the woman off for the little surprise attack from earlier, before sheathing his knives back up his sleeves and standing up calmly. Ninja's were trained to surpress any emotion that was unbecomeing of them. He was nearly perfect at it. Nearly. "Alright, but, what do you want? And why do you want to know about my powers?" They didn't seem hostile, but being on the worry side never hurt.

Charles chuckled. "Yes, I do think I got a little off subject. Well, Haze, me and my colleuge have a school for people like you, Scott and Jean. A school that we allow you and others to come to so they may be able to learn to control their powers to a great extent for the future and for the greater good."

"What makes you think I'm like them? No offense." Naruto said to the two other teens, who shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"Well, Haze, like the others and myself, and I believe you as well, we have a gene inside of ourselves, that we are born with, that gives us our unique abilities, such as yours and mine. Around our teen ages, this powers begin to manifest themselves. That was why I built the 'Institute,' as we call it, for, as we are called, 'mutants.' To help new children with their abilities."

"And you believe I have this 'gene?' Sorry, I'm afraid your wrong though. I was given my powers by a…different, way." Naruto said, clutching his hands into fists with anger. This didn't go unnoticed, however, by Xavier.

"Yes, well, either way, I would like to ask if you would like to attend there. Of course, you will have to go to school there, and-"

"How do you know I still need to go to school?" Naruto asked quickly, growing cautionary around these people.

"Your voice." Xavier said, like it was obivios.

Naruto, sadly, couldn't help buy feel embaresed. "Right…so, what about this institute thing?"

"Right, well, besides attending school there, you will also be training to learn how to use your powers with, and I use this word with meaning, grueling and sometimes potentinally dangerous work out sequences. I must warn you, Haze, that this will be no picnic. You will have to work for the right to be at the Institute."

"All the more fun to be their, Wheels." Naruto said with a smile, the little nickname earning a chuckle from Charles, a scoff from Ororo, and a few snickers from Scott and Jean. Naruto brought his hand up to his chin in thought. "Let me think. Brutal training equals fun. I getting to hang out with people who understand me a little." He didn't mention the fact that what he was made him one-hundred percent different from what they were. But, eh, some secrets were better left unsaid. "I get to live in place that, I guess, has always working toilets and warm water. No rats, cockroaches, and mice, I hope. A warm bed. And I'm hoping no annoying Latvian, always-wanting-rent, apartment owner lives there…who asks for stinkin' rent even when your taking a shower…hmm…" Naruto continued to think it over, ignoring the surprised looks on the other faces about the hazards at where he loved at.

He continued to think it over for a minute or so, before smiling, and walking over to the wheelchair bound man. "Got yourself a deal, Wheels." Naruto said, lifting his hand up to shake the man's hand as well.

Charles chuckled, before looking firmly at the boy. "There is one last thing though. At the institute, we keep out activities a secret, and-"

"Activities?"

"We work to help make a better future for mutants. There is a group, like our, that fight to make a better future, as well, for mutants. But, unlike our group, who try to coexist with mutants, the other group, the Brotherhood, run by my old friend and collegue, Erik Lehnsherr, is trying to fight humans so that we mutants can be the domininte species on earth." Charles shook his head at the very thought of his friend. "If only he could see the light…"

Naruto just stared down at the sad man, before shaking his head like he was dizzy. "Geez, Doc, you sure make it hard to download all this info, ya' know? It really does sound like a Sci-fi movie made by some comic book group or somethin.'" Naruto just shook his head, as he kept his arm raised to the man. "So, what was the other part of the deal again?"

Charles coughed a little to straighten himself out, before looking serious at Naruto. "We will have to know your true identity. On missions, you may go out as 'Crimson Haze,' or whatever you wish to be named. But in the institute, you will have to go by your real name." Naruto faltered with his hand to the man before him.

This hadn't been what he expected. _I mean, sure, it's fair…but…_ He didn't know what to do. He would be giving this man his identity for no other reason but that he trusted him for some odd reason.

He knew what he was about to do was crazy. He knew what he was about to do could put him in many complicated situations.

But…he didn't want to feel…alone. Sure, he had a few friends from the apartments and school. A few _true_ friends…but that was it.

He needed others. He needed to move on.

And then, at that moment, the seventeen year old Naruto made the biggest descicion of his life. He lifted his long hood that hid his face from view over his head, revealing his long, pointy blond hair, his handsome face, and his blue eyes that were covered up by his hair. He smiled to the group. "Names Naruto Uzumaki…and I accept your invitation, Mr. Charles Xavier."

Charles smiled, as he shook the blond's hand and sealed the deal between them, before beginning to explain what would happen in the next few weeks for the blond, New York City hero.

-

**Present…**

And that's how it happened. Funny, things happened so fast. It was a miracle, really. But, now, Naruto found his destination, as he found the gates to a rather large…mansion. _Well, here it goes._ Naruto thought to himself, as he jumped the fence to the institution, a good fifteen foot fence to, before slowly making his way to the institution.

It looked like your common bourding school building. Plenty of windows. A comfortable enviorment. A comfortable place, overall.

After what felt like an eternity, he reached the door to the house and sighed as he rung the doorbell. It was answered quickly by Ororo, who smiled to him and opened the door wide for him to walk in. "Hello, Naruto. Welcome to the Institute." She said kindly, as Naruto smiled back to her and walked inside, taking off his glasses so he could see clearly the inside.

He whistled. This place had wealth written off the roof. "This is…tight." Naruto said, mostly to himself, as Ororo smiled at the boy.

"Glad to hear it. Now, if you'll follow me, the Professor would like to speak with you first before you settle in for the night. He has taken the liberty of already getting you signed up for school for tommorow, so no need to worry. I even here there is a 'pre-football game' tonight that Scott and Jean will be attending. Perhaps you should join them." Ororo suggested, as Naruto followed her through the mansion, whistling several times at how cool this place looked.

_Football? Tsk. That brings up sme fond memories._ Naruto couldn't help but think. He'd asked, when he was younger, if he could go out for the team to Iruka, but due to his training, Iruka said he probably shouldn't.

So, he didn't. He knew he was good. No doubt. He could run circles around the entire team, with ease. But…he considered going out for the team after Iruka…left. He tried out. Made it in easy. Then quit.

He had his reasons.

Eventually, the duo found themselves in a large room, books that covered the shelves around the room with several of them looking like they were from the time of the civil wars and such. The desk in the room was large and held several documents and such, along with various things Naruto didn't know the name of.

Naruto looked around the room a bit, before seeing the Professor, as he'd been told by everyone was what everyone called him, motion him inwards. "Ah, Mr. Uzumaki, pleasure to see you again."

"Yeah, nice to see you to, pops." Naruto retorted, non agressively, as he took a seat near the desk and sat down. He didn't give respect to just anyone, after all. But this place…he'd made this. That earned him a small amount, he supposed.

Charles merely chuckled at the blond. "You remind me of an old friend of mine, you know that?"

"…I'll take that as a compliment." Naruto said, as he reached into his pockets, grabbed out a pack of cigarettes, popped one into his mouth, got out a fine looking silver lighter, and was about to light it when he saw the Professor's disaproving look. "What?"

"Aren't you a little young for those?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, as Naruto just looked at him like he was insane.

"One of my powers. Healing. Drugs, alchohol, smokes, they don't do anything to me. Heh, god I love a good drinking competition when moneys on the table." Naruto said with a chuckle, as Xavier looked at him like he was nuts…and if he was related by some chance to Logan.

"Either way, smoking is not permitted here, so…" He motioned to the ciguarettes, as naruto looked down at them, sighed sadly, put away his lighter, and put the pack away for later. (Note, I don't smoke, I don't encorage smoking, but with Naruto as he is…just works for him)

"Alright, so what now?"

"Well, for starters, I'd like to ask you some questions."

Naruto sighed, as he reached into his duffel bag. "Great. Were gonna need something to lighten, what I'm sure, is going to be a long, complex, and frankly, saddening conversation." Naruto said bluntly, as he reached into his bag and grabbed a Coke, a bag of Doritos, and passed similar items over to the Professor, who just chuckled at the blond. Usually, his mere presence made people repsect him. Not Naruto. It was a little annoying, but he was going to figure out why Naruto was like this.

Naruto bit into some chips, before looking up to the Professor to begin. "Hit me."

"Very well. I would like to begin with something simple. Your powers. What are they? Also, I have another question on _how_ you got them. For some reason, I highly doubt they are mutant powers at all."

That was easy to explain what they were. How to explain how he got them was a bit more…stressful. He leaned back in his chair and relaxed a bit, taking a drink of his soda to clear his throat. "Lets see, a small taste of my powers…well, the red cloak is one. It gives me…well, strength, speed…basically like a stimulant that doesn't hurt me. I can increase how powerful the feeling is with concentration, thus making me stronger. I usually just use it as a 'bullet-proof-look' now-a-days. I'm so strong with my powers that a normal punch could kill someone if I don't hold back with the cloak. So, I usually just use a _very_ small amount of energy to power my punches so that it does make me stronger then most people, it doesn't make it entirely lethal to the simplest touch. Murder…is something I don't do." Naruto clenched his fists in anger, memories of the past bubbling up. He calmed himself quickly, as he looked back up to the listening intently parapolegic. He was a ninja, trained to kill. But he swore, the day Iruka left him, that he would never stray off the path of murder.

Never.

"I have a healing power, making me immune to…yeah, you heard me before. Uh, lets see, I have a few other…abilities, you can call them, that my sensei taught me before…he…" Naruto paused, as he took a swig of his coke, drowing himself in the caffeine sweetness of the drink to hide his sadness. "Well, anyway, those are pretty much it for my powers. How I got them is…well, lets just say, it's a tale _no one_ would believe." Naruto stated, and finished at that.

Charles stared at the blond boy for a moment, trying to search through the boy's mind but having zip luck. It was like he wasn't even there. Jean had, as well, explained the occurnece to the Professor as well. It was like Naruto Uzumaki…didn't even exist to the telepaths.

After a moment of trying to break into the boy's mind with not luck, before nodding at the boy. "Understood. Well, that's all well right now. That's pretty much all I had to ask you. You may leave."

"Thank you, sir." Naruto said, feeling a little respectable towards the man, as he made to leave before a thought occurred to him. He turned back to the Professor with a sheepish grin. "Uh, sir, question. Um…do you have a garage to park my car?"

The Professor raised an eyebrow. "A car?"

"Yes. While I was in the city I had a rather nice car. But, with crime rates as they were, and my car being what it was…not the safest thing to have hanging around." Naruto said, purprosly keeping the subject of what kind of car it was out of the conversation. It wasn't exactly the type of car a normal city boy would have around.

But, the cash the village sent to him, in U.S currency, was most…geneorus. And with Naruto not exactly needing much, the money piled up big time.

Charles seemed to understand the need to keep it safe, although where he put it, he didn't know. Hadn't he taken the bus? "That's perfectly alright. I'll ask Scott to show you where the garage is before you can settle in for the night in your room." Naruto nodded, as he walked out of the room with a friendly smile.

The Professor sighed at the boy. He would be a challenge. Hesitantly, he moved his hand to the cold Coke can beside himself, opened it, and took a swig. Perfect taste.

He sighed, as he turned his wheelchair around to the window and looked out to the gleeming sunlight.

Just another peaceful day in Salem Center, New York.

-

Naruto walked quickly outside of the office room, as a fairly tall, well-built young man, with short, dark brown hair, a light complexion came walking around the corner toward Naruto. He recognized him as Scott. Funny, when he first me him, he'd looked to be around his age. Now, he looked around sixteen or so. Weird. "The Professor said you needed to be shown the garage?" Scott asked, receiving the message from the Professor just moments ago, as Naruto raised an eyebrow. That was fast.

"Uh, yeah, got to park my car." Naruto commented, lifting up his bag. Scott lifted up and eyebrow…or, at least, it appeared he did, behind the crimson glasses. He nodded none the less, thinking the boy quiet odd.

"Right. Follow me." Scott said, walking backwards from where he came, Naruto walking along side him. "So, what do you think of the Institute?" Scott asked, trying to make a little light conversation.

"Its tight." Naruto answered simply, as they walked down an, apparently, empty hallway, as Scott pulled a nearby painting to the side a bit, pressed something on the wall, and paused, as the wall beside them vanished to reveal an…elevator? The place needed an elevator?

Scott chuckled at Naruto's surprised face at the elevator. "Yeah, I was surprised to. But, you'll understand why we need one soon." Scott answer with a coy smile, as Naruto raised an eyebrow at his fellow 'student.' _What are you…_Naruto was becaming curiouser and curiouser of this place as he continued to walk in it.

Scott pressed a button to elevator, as the doors opened to the metal device, and walked inside alongside Naruto, as Naruto looked around the place wide eyed. The thing began to decent down a few floors down through who-knows-what full of levels, before coming upon a wide…hanger.

Naruto's eyes widened even more, if it was possible, his mouth open and gaped at the thing before him, dropping his duffel bag in the process. "Thats…that's…" He turned to Scott, who was chuckling off to the side at Naruto's face. "That's a fricken RS-150 Blackbird jet!" Naruto yelled out loud, as he began to examine the black as night machine before him, intently. Scott raised an eyebrow.

"How do you-"

"I watch a lot of discovery channel, read a lot of military books. You know, I like to learn." Naruto said, remembering all of the times he got bored and decided to read books on anything violent, war like, etc. Scary stuff those books had, yet fun to read. "These things are supposed to be one of the fastest, fuel efficient, craziest things the military's got! These things can go up to over _mach 4 _speeds. They are invisible to radar, has some of the best manueverabilty out of any ship, and there is supposed to be only _nine_ made in exsistence. Hell, you can't even buy these things. The military, supposedly, has all of them." Naruto yelled, after looking at the outer layer of the thing for a good five minutes, amazed at the dezine of the ship. Then a question popped into his head. "How does the Professor have one?"

Scott, while amazed on how the boy knew so much on the ship, just smiled. "We use it for our…assignments." This got Naruto excited. He'd actually get to ride one… "Besides for this beauty of a thing, we store some of our rides off to the side." Scott stated, pointing towards a group of cars to the side of the ship. A good, _safe_, distance away.

Naruto looked at the cars before him, noting that a good deal of them were pretty fast machines, before returning to his duffel bag, pulling out something that Scott couldn't see from his point of view, walked over to an open space of the hanger/garage area, sat down on the ground, rolled something on the floor, and-

POOF!!

Scott jumped back for cover, as a rush of smoke exploded from under where Naruto crouched down at. He jumped behind a nearby steel column, ready to strike whatever was about to happen next, when the smoke disperced from around where Naruto was, leaving Scott to gape at what he was looking at.

"So, like my rides?" Naruto asked coyly, as he smiled at Scott's beyond surprised look. Where Naruto stood were three of the, in Naruto's words, 'tightest' rides Scott had ever seen. Being a bit of a car junky, like Naruto apparently was, he recognized them for what they were. He had a car himself, but nothing like these.

The first one he saw, and apparently the oldest of the group of cars, was a Plymouth Roadrunner GTX. A slightly dark red paintjob covered it all over, with a large black stripe running from its front center to its back. It was a muscle car. Built for speed and performance. Those things costed quite the pretty penny. And what made it even more amazing was that he had one at all. They stopped making these twenty years ago.

The next was Honda S2000 AP2 with a nice black paint job and black leather chairs on the inside. It was a beuty of a car. Common, yet smooth. A good car to have. Its insides were amazing, and Scott couldn't help but imagine what it would be like to drive it sometime. Maybe catch Jean's eye…

The last of them, the one Naruto was currently in the driver's seat of, was the most amazing of the three cars, even though Scott had slight difficulty seeing what it was. It took him a moment, but he eventually figured out what it was.

A Veilside RX7 Fortune: Model Widebody. Its dark windows made it hard to see the blond boy in the driver's seat of the extremely pricy, and hard to find, car. Orange lined the sides of the car, along with a large black line starting from the front of the car to the back, like the roadrunner. Its rims spun with the wind, seemed to have a glow to it, and seemed to have some serious work done on it. These cars were built because they could be made to hold anything, really. Nitros, turning instruments, etc. It was an _awesome_ car, look and design wise. Everything about it was amazing. And how it purred with it on only told him that Naruto had made improvements to it. And, like the others, this must have cost him a fortune.

The license plate, unlike the others that just read what they were built with, wrote 'KAMIKAZE ONE.'

Naruto chuckled at his fellow student's amazed look. He was expecting the next question, but not on how it was yelled at him from the usually calm person. "How…HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THESE?!" He…asked, as Naruto chuckled and jumped out of the car.

"Hmm…well, I have a moderately big allowance." Naruto, actually, answered honestly, as Scott continued to stare at the amazing cars before him.

"Allowance?" Scott said in disbelief, as he walked slowly to the cars before him, sliding his hands slowly over the smooth paint job of the Veilside. "I'm no expert…but how did you get a Veilside? They're made in _Japan._" He asked, out of breath, as he moved to the side of the car and looked in through the window, letting off a whistle as he looked at the interior with amazement.

Naruto smirked, looking at Scott as he checked out his car. "I know a guy." Enough said. Scott pulled his head out of the car's opened window, looking at Naruto with raised eyebrows. Don't ask how Naruto knew he raised them. "I didn't steal them. I worked hard to get them. Fully paid for, thank you. Had a few delivery jobs that gave me a decent income. I worked for the 'Daily Bugle.' AKA, the 'Hitler Paper.'" Scott gave Naruto a questionable look, as Naruto decided to explain. "Honestly, the owner of the paper gave me the smallest wage in the world for good pictures, he had this mustache that, literally, looked like Hitler's, and he yelled like a deranged lunatic on pills." Scott, despite trying to stay cool, couldn't help but laugh at the description Naruto gave him.

Naruto remembered how cheap J. Jonah Jameson was to him and his pictures of…himself. He, and a good fellow worker of his, Peter Parker, gave him pictures of the superheroes of the city, and he paid them chicken peck for them. He got Red Haze photos, and Peter got Spider-man pictures. Naruto had to admit, Parker had a talent for photography. And he was a bit of a brainiac, as well.

"Come on, I'm sure he wasn't that-"

"Trust me, he was that _and _more." Naruto said, as Scott just stared at the blond boy, before both of them went into a random, yet comfortable, laughing fit.

"Sounds like Hitler's reincarnation." Scott agreed with a laugh, as he shook his head and turned to the rest of the cars and checked them out. "Man, what I wouldn't do to get one of these." He mused to himself, as Naruto chuckled at him eyeing the Honda out. "Hey, Naruto, I have to ask-"

Naruto knew where this was gonna go. "You can't borrow the Veilside. That's MY car. But the Honda," Scott turned to Naruto with high hopes, nearly knocking off his glasses, as a small ring of keys flew into his vision. He quickly grabbed the keys before they hit the ground, "knock yourself out. Just bring it back with a full tank of gas. Deal?" Naruto asked, as he rose out his hand to the glasses-wearing teen, who quickly grabbed Naruto's hand and shook it.

"Deal." Scott said gratefully, as Naruto smiled at the boy. He was cool. He could be trusted with his car, at least. Scott pocketed the keys, before motioning for Naruto to follow him to the elevator. "Come on. I'll show you the rest of the house." Scott said, as Naruto grabbed his duffel bag and entered the elevator alongside his…I guess he could call him a friend, as he felt the elevator close after him, heading upwards to who knows where.

But, he wouldn't be disappointed.

-

"So, Charles has added yet another believer in peace to his team of 'heroes,' has he?"

"Yes. According to what I've heard of this 'Crimson Haze,' he is an _extremely_ powerful mutant…I…I can't even comprehend how powerful he is." Came a female voice inside the dark room, as the one she spoke to raised a questionable eyebrow.

"It sounds like you've experienced his powers first-hand."

The woman shook her head. "I have not met him. But I have been…studying him, for a while, and from what I've seen, he would be an extremely powerful asset." The woman suggested, as the one she spoke to began to look questionably put a nearby window.

_Could he be the one?_ The man asked himself, knowing full well that this 'Crimson Haze' was fully capable of being the one Destiny spoke of. He'd only heard part of the prophecy of 'the Savior,' but was willing to bet that that was who they were looking for. But, just to be sure… "Keep watch over this 'Crimson Haze,' Raven. I will be leaving soon for New Orleans to talk to an…old friend. If this 'Haze' does anything…unusual or unorthodox, report it to me. I have a feeling about this boy that I must know for sure about. My answers lie in New Orleans." The woman, Raven, looked absolutely frightened at the man before for her own reasons, before quickly calming down and nodding.

"Understand, sir. I will make my leave." And with that, she disappeared through the darkness, all the while _hoping_ he didn't find out about a certain teenage girl in the proximity.

The man continued to look out the window of the room, trying to organize his thoughts on the matter of what to do next, before moving over to a nearby television screen, pressing a few buttons on the enormous screen before him, and waited for an image to pop up to reveal his 'partner' for a better future. "Hello, Victor."

"Lehnsherr? Why do you call me now?" A dark figure asked angrily on his throne, known by many as Victor von Doom, or just simply Doctor Doom by some, who sat in his armor suit and green cape that seemed to loom menacingly before the television screen. Not to mention the mask or the voice of the man that was as hollow and evil as it could be. It appeared that the man was working on some sort of business deal in his country of Latveria.

Magneto just smiled and sat down in his own chair, looking up to the screen of the currently displeased king of Latveria. "I have brought good news on the boy of prophecy, that I am sure that you will find very interesting…"

-

**And that is all for today. Hoped you enjoyed it. Any questions, angry words, or threats on trying to kill me in the near future are accepted in a review statement.**

**Thank you. Hope you enjoyed it.**

**Pictures of cars are in my homepage.**


	4. The Key, the Heart, and the Warrior

**The Key, the Heart, and the Warrior**

**-**

"They'll come at you out of nowhere." Came a voice, seemingly out of nowhere, startling the boy with the key-like weapon in his hands who had just walked out of a nearby store.

"Who are you?" He called out, as figure appeared from around the corner.

"And they'll keep on coming at you, as so long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." The man continued to speak, as he placed a hand to his head, seemingly as if he was getting a headache. "Now there are two I've known to wield the blade. But why it chose you, I haven't a clue."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" The boy yelled angrily, as the man shook his head.

"Never mind. Now, lets see that Keyblade." The man began to walk forward to the kid, who got in a guard position with the weapon. _No form._ The figure thought, stopping his forward pursuit.

"WHAT?! There's no way you're getting this!" The boy yelled, as the man…began to chuckle.

"Getting? No, you don't understand, kid." The man lifted his arm forward at the boy. Suddenly, a white light began to protrude from the hand of the man's outstretched arm, a sound like the opening of a lock; the light vanished and revealed what lay behind it. The boy gawked, looked at the weapon in his hand, before looking back to the man before him. The man just smirked. "I don't _need _a Keyblade, kid. Like I said before," the figure jumped at the surprised boy, catching the kid by surprise as he stuck once at the head, which the kid was able to black, spun, Charlie-horsed the back of the boy's leg, effectively making the boy drop his weapon, before spinning around again and round-housing the boy down the nearby stairs, knocking said boy out quickly and efficiently.

The figure smirked as he walked over to the fallen silver and gold Keyblade before looking down at the down boy. "Like I said, _you _aren't the only one with a Keyblade." The figure spoke, resting his red bladed and orange guarded Keyblade on his shoulder. The two blades were alike by just how they looked. The man's Keyblade, while looking the same, had a longer blade and different colors, as mentioned before, and instead of the three circles of the boy's Keyblade keychain, his held a red leaf-like symbol on it. Similar, yet completely different.

The figure walked down the stairs of the town down to the prone body of the boy, looking down at him with emotionless blue eyes. "I think you may have overdone, Hot-shot." Came a yell behind the man, as he looked behind to see his familiar, hyperactive friend. The man smirked.

"I went easy on him. He'll live." The man said, as the girl walked next to him and looked down to the fallen boy.

"Ouch."

"He's fine. Where's Aerith?" The man asked, growing serious, as the young hyperactive girl sighed.

"Met up with some people from the castle."

"Hmm." The man said simply, as he held out the two blades from his body, his own and the boy's. The blades disappeared in a flash. "Let's meet up with them. And…where's Leon?"

"I think he's at the apartments, securing the area. Ever since the kid came here, the Heartless have been…topsy turvy." The man nodded, as he picked up the fallen kid onto his shoulder.

"Come on, Yuffie. Knowing Aerith, she's gonna get into more trouble than she needs to be in." The girl, Yuffie, giggled.

"Probably. But, she has you to save her butt, doesn't she, Naruto?" Yuffie said, using the man's real name. This startled the man, as he shook his head, pushing some long, pointy blond hair out of his face before mock glaring at his ninja friend.

"Yuf-fira." The man, Naruto, said simply, as Yuffie grew very angry at the blond. For wondering folk, this was just a messed up fira spell on Naruto's part. And...well, you can guess what it hit, and Yuffie was ticked at the blond till this day on it.

"HEY!! THAT'S NOT FAIR!! THAT WAS YOUR FAULT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!" Yuffie yelled, remembering an embarrassing moment in the past, as Naruto chuckled.

"Still doesn't mean it wasn't funny." Naruto said simply, before the boy on his back began to groan. "Wow. The kids already coming at it. Come on. Let's meet up with Aerith and Leon. I'm sure they'll want a word with the kid." Naruto said, growing serious, as they began to run towards the apartment areas.

_Wow. This…this is almost _exactly _like my first time in town. Hehe, Leon gave me a _very_…painful introduction in town._ The blond thought, as his mind began to drift back to ten years ago. All the while, running through the streets, cutting down all opposing Heartless in the way with moderate ease.

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki, a young genin of the village hidden in the leaves. The boy, a young thirteen year old, while young in blood and little knowledgeable in the ways of the world of the ninja, had experienced fights and experiences that could even make the Shinigami himself cringe in fright.

But now, currently, the blond was resting in his bed of his apartment, relaxing after a hard fight from his rival and friend, Sasuke Uchiha. The match had been, more or less, a tie. Thanks to their sensei, the two ended up tying at the end, leaving the outcome uncompleted.

But, back to the present. Naruto was currently sleeping and, from the outside view of himself, apparently having a nightmare.

Naruto was…falling. He didn't know exactly how long he was falling. But, when he fell asleep, he was almost immediately in a torment of water. It was so dark. So cold. He could breathe, weirdly enough. But, it got pretty old pretty quickly. So, he lifted my hand up forward and…a light blinded me.

He covered my eyes, and looked ahead of himself, realizing he was on land again, standing up straight like had been for some time. Naruto looked around himself and was confused as, one, the light that blinded him was gone and two, he was standing on darkness. He blinked at the strange occurrence, before he took a step forward.

"WHOA!!" He yelled, as suddenly, hundreds of white birds flew from the darkness.

As more and more birds took flight, a yellow light grew, and Naruto abruptly realized that the surface he was standing on was illuminated. More birds flew off, the light grew brighter, and Naruto could make out the image on the platform. Revealing after a few seconds or so, a platform of sorts. He eyed the thing in surprise, as it showed…himself.

He was…sleeping. Peacefully, even. But that wasn't all. Black tendrils of sorts surrounded his body. Pictures, at the very edge of the platforms, showed faces he couldn't recognize. There may have been, at least, a dozen faces. He didn't recognize any of them. The faces almost seemed…familiar. Like an old friend he hadn't seen for a long time. A few felt like this. Some made him feel like he wanted to punch the picture, oddly enough.

And one picture, a girl with long brown hair and a red bow in her hair. She had a soft face, and…made him feel…weird. Warm. "Well, this place is…weird. How the hell am I gonna get out of here!"

_**Do not worry. When your task is done here, you shall leave. **_A toneless voice spoke.

Naruto blinked, and looked around the platform. "Um…hello? Who are you?"

_**I am, that I am.**_

"…That…doesn't do shit for me!" Naruto yelled irritably. "Well, whoever you are, do you know how I can get out of here?"

_**You can only leave here if you pass the trial of the blade.**_

"Look, I'm tired, hungry, and I don't have time for this!"

_**Time? Time, at the moment, is the least of your worries. For the darkness will consume this world. You are this world's only hope.**_

"…I have _no_ idea what you are saying."

_**This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed. Only you, Naruto Uzumaki, can save this world.**_ The voice spoke, as Naruto just gave the darkness of the platform a questionable look.

"Look, you-you have the wrong guy. I…I don't know about this…darkness. Worlds. I'm just a kid!"

_**And yet, you could make the difference of millions of lives, Uzumaki. Save lives. Protect the worlds, Naruto, and I will give you the power to conquer the darkness that binds all beings.**_

"Again, you have the wrong guy. Seriously, have you SEEN how the villagers treat me?"

_**I have. But you go through with it. You keep smiling. You continue to protect those that hate you-**_

"Okay, now you're just making me look like an idiot."

_**No. In fact, that is where true strength comes from you. Your drive to prove them wrong. That, Naruto Uzumaki, is where your true strength comes from. You do not hate those who hate you. You protect those who have harmed you. That is why I shall give you the power to go further than any other being has gone before to protect those around them. And so, Naruto Uzumaki, I shall help you gain the power to fight off those who have sworn themselves to the darkness. Now,**_

A light suddenly shone into the middle of the room, as Naruto turned to it and looked curiously at it.

_**Step into the light, and begin your destiny to save the worlds.**_

Naruto looked upward to where the light came from, which really didn't have any outlet of any sort, before looking back towards the light. This…this was happening to quickly. Worlds? Darkness? Power. He was thirteen! This couldn't have been happening to him!

And yet, either by his will or not, he began to walk toward the light, feeling oddly compelled to go closer to it. He stepped up to the very edge of the light, before looking upward to where the gleam came from. He smiled. He didn't know why, but he did. And he stepped into the light.

_**Let us begin.**_

Suddenly, a light shone in front of Naruto, as three objects appeared in front of him. A sword. A staff. And a shield. They had weird symbols on them which made Naruto almost laugh.

_**There are three paths to choose from. Do you choose the path of strength, the warrior?**_

Here, a light shining on the sword seemed to increase just enough to indicate it.

_**The path of defense, the guardian?**_

The shield was illuminated.

_**Or the path of wisdom, the mystic?**_

The staff was illuminated, and Naruto grimaced.

"Do I have to choose just one? Can't I have them all?" He asked, looking between the weapons as the voice chuckled.

_**Do you surrender only at the first test?**_

This insulted Naruto. "WHAT?! NARUTO UZUMAKI _NEVER_GIVES UP!! Stupid Voice." Naruto muttered under his voice, as he looked between the weapons.

The sword seemed to radiate strength, power, will, and warmth the Naruto enjoyed the feeling of. His senses of the eyes, nose, taste, and hearing felt somewhat…larger. Cleverer almost. Almost like he was invincible.

The shield seemed soft, but held a calm, hidden power of perseverance to it that made Naruto feel secure with. His emotions felt secure and strong. It seemed like the mere thought of protecting those he cared for gave him the ability of the sword twice over.

The staff seemed…well, mystical. Hidden within it, seemed a power that Naruto had never felt before. With it, he felt his senses of thought heightened. He felt calm and collected, like in a meditative state of mind of relaxation.

Naruto looked between the weapons uncertainly, as his mind just told him to choose one. But, the conscious mind that actually thought of something told him to choose wisely. And with Naruto choosing one of those rare moments to listen to the conscious part of his mind and not do things without thinking, he chose a weapon.

_**You have chosen the path of service and self-sacrifice.**__** Friends and allies will be closer to you and, as you grow closer to those around you, so shall your power and abilities. Is this the path you chose?**_

Naruto looked hesitantly at the shield before him, as he held it by its handle, before nodding to the sky.

The weapon vanished from his hands, making him suddenly feel…warm inside, before the platform beneath him suddenly shattered into pieces, which left Naruto to fall into the abyss. Into the darkness.

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-!"

**THUD!**

"Ow…" Naruto grimaced and rubbed the back of his head, before pulling himself up into a sitting position and looking around himself. He was on a different platform…but it was…different. It was simple. It showed a man, whose back was to the platform's view. Long silver hair, wearing a black outfit of sorts, and a black wing protruding from his back. Blackness surrounded him.

"This is probably the _weirdest_dream I've ever had." Naruto complained, getting up to his feet, looking around the platform.

_**Now is not the time for complaint. This is the second test. **_

At that, little black puddles appeared on the platform, _oozing_for him. Naruto stepped back a little, as they began to rise up and take shape. Naruto gasped at the odd little, beady-yellow eyed creatures. "What the hell are these things?" Naruto shouted, holding the shield defensively in front of him. Didn't know if it was a good form or not, but it worked for him.

_**These are expressions of darkness, which lie within all things.**_

The things now looked like little men with large bug-like yellow eyes and antenna. Clumsily, they moved for him, tiny clawed fingers reaching out for Naruto. Out of instinct Naruto pulled a kunai from his leg pouch and threw it at one of the things, but it passed right through it.

"WHAT THE-?"

_**Normal weapons will not work against the darkness… The power to stop them must come from within…**_

Naruto grimaced as he dodged a few of the shadow creatures, leaping high over their heads with his ninja skills. However, more and more began to emerge, and Naruto soon found himself with nowhere to jump to. He looked down at the shield…and looked back at the hordes of creatures, the voice's words replaying in his mind.

Naruto was starting to panic, as he looked down at his weapon than back to his enemies. _I need something longer!_Naruto thought, before the words of the voice gave him an idea. _The power from within._

Naruto dodged another horde of swipes from the creatures, as he jumped towards very edge of the platform. Naruto glared at the horde of creatures, before he closed his eyes, held the shield to his head, and began to concentrate on the weapon in his hands. _Come on. Please. I need something new. If the Voice said was right, I need your help! Ple-_

_SHING!_

Naruto opened his eyes, and nearly fell backward off the platform, as the shield was gone from his hands, replaced with the sword from before. Power that Naruto had felt before was surging through him. Although, the feeling of the shield was still there. Naruto looked in awe at the blade, as one of the creatures jumped at him. On instinct, Naruto swung the sword at the creature-

-and rendered it to dust.

"Alright! Now, let's get this thing started!" Naruto yelled, as he ran towards the creatures with overwhelming confidence. This caught the creatures by surprise, as he swung at them with…well, an odd like dance of the blade. While not exactly graceful, catching the things by surprise helped with him quickly defeat them.

"Phew. Well, that wasn't so bad." Naruto said to himself, resting the sword on his shoulder. "What's next?"

_**Your heart is strong. Few have made it past this test.**_

"Really? Wow, that's…sad."

_**Well, few have the strength of your heart. But now, a question. The sword. How did you retrieve it?**_

"Uhh, I don't know. I needed a weapon. It just came to me."

_**Correct. But, in these trials, while you gain one strength, you lose another. Your mind chose the power of the mystic and wisdom instinctively. But fear not. While you may have given up that power, it is not all gone to you. True, your grades in the academy were…low. The true power of wisdom comes from one who is willing and wants to learn. By denying the power, you have opened your mind to learning that you have not learned yet. It shall give you something to strengthen your mind on further after the trials are finished.**_

"Umm…okay…" Naruto said, contemplating what was being told to him. _Well, I do seem to do better on missions of higher rank. I mean, like the mission to Wave. Or the fight with Orochimaru in the forest. I didn't do that bad. And Neji. I always seem to do better in things that potentially could kill me…that may not be the best thing to do well at. Grades, shmades. My instincts get me through things!_ "Well, what next?"

_**A lesson. Your first lesson you are to learn. A simple one.**_

"Alright, spill."

_**The lesson is, that within every being**__** both darkness as well as light. Even you.**_

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "You mean…" he placed his hand on his stomach.

_**No. Not just. Darkness feeds off of negative emotions like a symbiont creature. It feeds off of your hatred, fear, ignorance, anger, pride. All of these emotions lead the heart, body, and soul down an all too familiar path.**_

_**While all beings are a mix of light and darkness, there are creatures that are of nothing but the darkness.**_

"You mean those creatures."

_**Correct. Do not mourn the beasts. **__**They were not true beings any longer, but manifestations of people's darkness. They became so steeped in their own darkness that it took on a will of its own. To find more hearts and corrupt them as their own were. But…there are those…who have and can grasp a hold of the darkness and not be affected by its effects. The man of the portrait before you is an example.**_

Naruto looked down at the platform before looking up to the sky. "But, there are people of the village-"

_**Yes. But they haven't been affected because the darkness has not come yet to this world. But it is. Your world will be one of the first to be attacked by the witch's wrath. You must prepare. But, enough of questions. You must find things out on your own. For now, your final test…**_

Naruto caught something at the corner of his eye, as he looked over to see, what appeared to be, a staircase to another platform a ways over. Naruto eyed the stairs suspiciously, before jogging over to them and running quickly up them. _This…this has got to be _the_weirdest dream I have _ever_ had. _Naruto thought, as he ran up the stairs.

Eventually, he made it to the top, as the stairs disappeared behind him. Naruto looked down to see that he was back on his original ramp from before. The photos and himself in the same places. Weird.

Naruto looked around himself, before seeing a beam of light in the middle of the room like before. On instinct, he walked to it, as if in a trance.

"Voice…what's" Naruto spoke, his voice wavering a bit, as he walked to the light.

_**The closer to light you walk, the longer your shadow… But don't be afraid. Don't stop walking.**_

"And…if I do? Stop walking, I mean? What will happen?" Naruto asked, his voice wavering still. He hadn't even noticed his shadow tingling behind him.

_**Then the darkness will consume not only you, but everything you hold dear. Now stop.**_

Naruto did. _I have a bad feeling about this._

_**Look behind you.**_

Naruto did slowly, as he gasped in surprise at what he saw. It…it was himself. Except…completely…black. He seemed to be oozing black smoke from his person, as its yellow beady eyes looked on at Naruto. Naruto held the sword defensively at his side, as the dark clone tilted its head to the side, making a soft moaning sound. Before it opened its mouth and smiled with its sharp black teeth.

Naruto grimaced at the creature, as it lunged at Naruto, spinning in the air in front of him. Naruto barely had time to react, as a well placed scratch passed his head by centimeters. Naruto jumped back quickly, but the thing kept coming, aiming wide, fast scratches at Naruto's face.

Naruto blocked a few of the scratches with his blade, which sounded like iron on iron, but the thing kept moving so fast, Naruto had to keep moving. Deciding he had enough, Naruto struck down at the thing, as it…slid away like it was on skates, as Naruto performed a familiar hand seal. **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

…

…

…Nothing.

Naruto looked up to his opponent, worry on his face. "Shit." Naruto peeped, as he went back into the defensive against the creature.

_**You must learn to rely on things besides your old techniques. The orbs of air, the clones, learn other things you will have to.**_

"Whatever! This thing just won't give up!" Naruto yelled, jumping around the arena, protruding several slashes on his coat and a few on his face. Some were bringing up blood.

_**Naruto. Combine your instincts of the sword, shield, and staff. Forge them into one. Your darkness is to strong. Focus. Form the three energies of the warrior, guardian, and mystic into one.**_

"Easier said than done!"

_**You have felt the waves of energy from the sword and shield. You have learned the feelings of the mystic. Now focus. Combine them into one. Evenly placed. Evenly balanced. Not too much of one. Not too little of one. Give them an even balance.**_

_The voice sounds like a shrink. _Naruto thought, as he continued to dance around the fast and vicious attacks of his shadow. _But, he hasn't let me down yet! _Naruto moved quickly, as he swiped at the shadow's arm, catching it slightly as it shrieked in pain and jumped back.

Naruto quickly brought the blade to his head, placing it softly on his forehead, and concentrated. _Come on! Come on! Combine. Warrior, guardian, mystic. What kind of weapon would that be?!_ He thought in anger, as he continued to concentrate.

Then, the laughter began. Naruto opened his eyes, as he looked over to the monstrosity. "_HAHAHA! Why do you continue? The people hate you. Your nothing but a reminder of what people lost. And now, you think you can be a hero?! HA!"_ The voice from the creature was as evil and crackling as it could have been. Like a sharp piece of glass on a chalkboard.

Naruto cringed at the voice. _No! Its not-_

"_Oh, but it is true, Naruto. I can see it in your eyes. You don't believe me? HA! Kid, I AM YOU! Don't deny it!"_ The creature continued as Naruto lowered the blade from his forehead. His eyes were…sad.

"No…its not…"

"_Oh, but it is. But don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery. It will be quick and painless._" The creature laughed like a freak, before it lunged at Naruto.

Who just stood there, staring at the creature. _Is it right? Does…does no one care about me? _Naruto closed his eyes, as he awaited the inevitable.

"_Come on Naruto, I know you're stronger than that." _Naruto opened his eyes suddenly, as he heard a familiar voice. He wasn't on the platform anymore. He was…he was at Ichiraku. Naruto looked around himself, to see that it was _just _Ichiraku. The outside was pitch white.

"Where-?"

"_Come now, Naruto. I know you're a stronger than this."_ Naruto spun to his left of his seat at the stand, to see a face he hadn't seen in months.

"Ji…ji-jii-san?" Naruto coughed out, tears pouring out, as right next to him sat the old man, dressed in his robes, smiling at him as he took a sip of ramen. _Am…am I dreaming?_

"_I hear you're having some trouble with someone?"_The old man said in his usual grandfatherly tone, as Naruto just continued to stare at him. Naruto managed to nodded. "_Well, don't give up. I know you. You can beat him."_

Naruto shook off his stupor and looked at the old man sadly. "How? He's to strong. To fast."

The Hokage just chuckled, ruffling Naruto's hair like he did when Naruto was younger. "_Naruto, I know you. You_ can _figure out this problem. You can, and will, find a way. Just believe in yourself."_

"But-"

_"No buts. Naruto, being the Hokage meant I never could give up on the people of Konoha. It was my sworn duty not to. I know you. You want to be Hokage, right? That means you can't give up."_

"But-"

The Hokage sighed, as he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. _"Naruto. When you fought Neji, and everyone thought you would lose, did you give up?" _Naruto shook his head. _"Did you give up with Kiba." _Again, he shook his head_. "And with Orochimaru, did you give up even when you were unmatched?" _Naruto, once more, shook his head. _"That's right. And once more, you should not give up. Ignore what that thing tells you. People _do_care about you Naruto. Never forget it." _Naruto looked up to the old man's face, before slowly, a big grin came on his face.

"Alright! I won't give up!" Naruto yelled, before a thought came to mind. "Uh, ji-jii…uh, are you gonna finish that?" Naruto pointed to the ramen bowl, as the Hokage chuckled and passed Naruto the bowl, who ate the ramen gladly.

"_Now, go get him."_

A light blinded Naruto, as he opened his eyes and swung upward, effectively cutting the black copy and causing it to jump away. The creature glared at Naruto, before its eyes widened. _"No."_

Naruto smiled, as he rested the newly created weapon on his shoulder. Blood red blade, orange handle, and a red leaf Keychain. Naruto smirked, as a sudden gust of wind flew around him like a tornado from out of nowhere.

The black creature just stared at the boy in complete surprise, as Naruto suddenly brought the weapon to his side and ran forward at the creature at speeds he hadn't ran with just moments ago.

_Perfect combination._

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!" Naruto yelled a battle cry, as he struck the key-like weapon into the chest of the black copy, the blade going cleanly through the creature.

"_GAHH!!"_The copy gawked, as Naruto pulled the blade out after a moment, jumped back a bit, and stared at the creature as it fell to its knees. Naruto smiled as the thing gawked in pain, as it looked up to Naruto and glared. _"You think you…have beaten me…but I will be back…I am you…and the conflict between your darkness and light still rages on…we'll see if you do so well…our next bout…"_

Then, the creature legs _oozed_into the platform. Its body was slowly being absorbed into the platform, dark spots protruding from the platform around Naruto, covering the pictures and himself.

"Wha-whoa!" Naruto yelled, as his knees began to sink into the platform all of a sudden, which resulted in him falling on his butt. Suddenly, dark tendrils began to envelop him. "What's-?"

_**Don't be afraid.**_

Naruto felt his arms pulled to the ground, followed by his legs, as he tried desperately to hold his head above the tendrils. The tendrils feeling as cold as ice.

_**You hold the mightiest weapon of all.**_

Naruto felt his legs being pulled downwards. Feeling they were being pulled through something thick and grimy.

_**So don't forget.**_

The feeling continued quickly up to his head, as he gasped once more before his eyes were covered in darkness…

_**You are the one who will open the door.**_

…

…

…Knock, knock, knock.

Naruto thrusted his head forward from where he was sleeping, as he quickly took in where he was at. "I'm…I'm in my room." Naruto said to himself, as he looked over himself to see all previous injuries he received from the fight in the platform were gone and he was still in his pajamas and not in his usual orange outfit. "Phew. Just a dream." Naruto said in relief, catching his breath from the fright of the dream.

But the dream…it was so real. But…when the darkness took him…he couldn't breath, he couldn't-

Knock, knock, knock!

Naruto cut off these thoughts from the loud knockings at the door, as he stood up and ran to his front door of his apartment.

"Wha, Shikamaru, what's up?"

"Naruto, I'm afraid I have some bad news." Came the aggravated reply from the pineapple-headed genius.


	5. Kryptonian

Years ago, in the atmosphere of the planet Ibonihs and the Elemental Countries, a ship of unknown origin but ingenious design, followed closely by several large meteors from a once great planet, flew over the skies of the planet, lighting up the sky to all those below for miles around, giving off a tranquil shooting star look over the Elemental countries that night. The ship of the Last Son of Krypton was being held, sleeping soundlessly, inside the warm, tranquil ship.

But, activity was not only just happening on that planet. In the sky of the night, one of the bigger meteors tilted its direction ever so slightly, due to gravity's pull on the ancient planet, and, while it looked like a mere tap on the base, the meteor radioactive foundation touched the near end of the ship, scraping off a small, head-sized chunk of the ship off, and into space.

Or, more precisely, with the planet Ibonihs's gravitational pull, it pulled the small chunk of alien matter towards the planet at, frankly, high speeds, leaving the pack off meteors and space ship behind. The ship, almost mechanically, grew back its lost stem of metal from the crash of meteor rock, and continued on its designated course. It had been traveling for little over a year now with its light speed movements through the cold, unbearable, and empty space. It still had over four years to go before it reached the planet of the closely resembling Ibonihs; Earth.

The small piece of metal that broke off from the ship hit the atmosphere of Ibonihs and headed up northward, flames protruding around it as it tried to go for a landing, but seemed unaffected from the heat. In fact, as the heat hit it, the small chunk of metal began to change shape and turn into a…diamond shaped crystal, shining blue and practically beautiful as it slowly descended into the planet's side.

Then-

BOOM!!

It landed. Hard. Erupting in the snow covered tundra, with snow erupting all around the area from the crash. The originally piece of space chunk, now diamond shaped crystal, just laid in the snow crater, as snow continued to cover the ground where it laid, before it slowly began to sink through the snow, ever so slowly, and did something utterly…amazing.

But, we'll get back to that later.

For now, the present was all that mattered on the world of Ibonihs.

The story begins with a boy, known as a Jinchuuriki, a 'power of human sacrifice,' and his tale on how he found the crystal of power, and changed his life…forever.

But a question may occur to some who read this life altering tale. What is it by mere luck the crystal fell to the planet's side and into the Land of Snow? Destiny? Had the ship meant this to happen? How was this boy supposed to understand anything that was to happen here? How would these changes effect the history of, not only his planet, but an entire other planet as well? So many questions. So very few answers.

But, enough of my mumbling. Let us see how this boy shall change the future of his planet and the next.

Let us read the tale, of Naruto Uzumaki. Once Jinchuuriki, turned Kryptonian.

-

**Kryptonian**

-

"Come on brat. Keep up." Yelled a long white haired old man, wearing snow clothing instead of his usual green-and-red outfit. Currently, he and his apprentice were trudging through the snow covered land of the Land of Snow. His apprentice had already been here once before, but to escape from the organization that were dedicated to capturing Jinchuuriki, Akatsuki, a group of high level 'missing nin,' who were dedicated to capturing apprentice and fellow Jinchuuriki, the sensei and apprentice were forced to sever all ties to his apprentice, until he was done with their little 'training mission.'

"Shut up, ERO-SENNIN!" His apprentice yelled behind the sensei, who glared daggers at the boy. _Two weeks. That's all that's left. Two weeks._

"HEY!! MY NAME IS JIRAIYA, KID!! GET IT RIGHT!!" The sensei, Jiraiya, yelled angrily, as they continued up the slopes slowly, the blizzard around them was irritating as hell. And the small fact the boy had been annoying him sense they got there didn't help much.

"Whatever, Ero."

"KID!! SHUT UP!!"

"MAKE ME!!" The boy dared, as Jiraiya stopped all of a sudden and dropped his packages on his back into the snow, stunning the boy.

"Alright! That's it! We're stopping here! Time to train!"

"What?! It's freezing out here!" The boy yelled, as Jiraiya came at him with an orb of blue in his hand, as the boy narrowly dodged the attack while dropping his supplies as well, as the orb of blue hit the snow and

"Lesson eighty-six, Naruto; don't EVER annoy me when I'm already annoyed." The man yelled, as Naruto glared at him for a second, before smiling and getting into one of his fighting stances Jiraiya had taught him over the months and months of training.

"You're gonna regret this, old man." The Jinchuuriki/apprentice/genin warned, officially shown as the boy, Naruto Uzumaki, warned, as he brought his right hand to his side, concentrated, and a small, familiar orb of bright blue energy appeared in his hand. "I'm not going easy on you this time, old man. It's all or nothing. Time to show you what I'm made of!"

Jiraiya smirked at his apprentice's enthusiasm, before bringing his arm, as well, to his side, and charging up a familiar attack of blue energy, as well. "No holding back, eh?"

"Not in the least." Naruto said, almost viciously, as he jumped at Jiraiya, who jumped at his apprentice as well, arm extended with the blue energy.

The effects were the same, as the blue energies from both of their palms hit the others, and collided with wind and snow being pushed away from them. "**RASENGAN**!!" They both yelled, as they continued to collide with one another 'Rasengans.'

BOOM!!

The attacks broke off, as Naruto flying back into a pile of snow, while Jiraiya flew for awhile backwards, before regaining balance and quickly forming another Rasengan. "Alright Naruto, lets…go…" Jiraiya stopped speaking, as he looked around the area and searched for his fallen apprentice. "Naruto…" Jiraiya spoke again, as he deactivated his Rasengan and began to grow worried.

Well, until a hand burst from the snow and caught onto the man. "Don't underestimate me!" Came a yell from the snow, as the blond boy burst from the snow, Rasengan already formed in hand, as his ball of energy aimed for the man's head. Jiraiya _narrowly_dodged the attack to the head, tilting his head just barely out of the way, a few hairs leaving his hair from the attack, before he twisted his body and his hold from the boy, and threw him away with a well placed throw. Naruto twisted in the air of the throw and landed on his toes, almost gracefully.

"Nice try, brat!"

"This is far from over, Ero-sennin!!"

Jiraiya glared at the fifteen year old blond in anger, as he formed yet another Rasengan into his hands, as the blond followed suit with a grin.

Crack.

Naruto paused from his charging up of his attack, as he looked down at his feet and felt like groaning, awkwardly enough, on what he was seeing.

Ice. Lots and lots of ice. He was over a frozen lake. Said lake, unfortunately…had a large crack protruding from it. And it was slowly growing bigger.

He looked up slowly to his sensei, who was just figuring out what was going on, and smiled. "Ah, shit."

CRACK-BANG!!

The ice gave way, and Naruto fell into the cold, cold water. Naruto swooshed around roughly in the water of the lake, as he quickly caught himself, looked around for the surface and tried to move quickly to the quickly freezing up exit, as he noticed Jiraiya hitting at the ice with his charged Rasengan to break it, but it was no use.

Naruto moved his arms and legs, concentrating on his Kyuubi chakra to give him that extra boost on the swimming, but was proved ineffective even if. It was so strange. It felt…it felt like something was _pulling _him downward to the bottom. But when he looked down…no one. Naruto gasped for breath, as he continued to fall down, before he felt himself slowly, but surely, lose all his breath, his body becoming motionless under the water, and his vision becoming darker.

He thought…no, he _knew_he was going to die. He knew he wouldn't bring his rival back. Get the girl. Become Hokage. Nothing.

And yet…even with all these doubts that rushed his mind at that moment…he still hoped for that _small_ chance, that speck of hope, against the pull of the lake, lack of breath, and prison of the cold water…that he _may_ have survived this hardship. That small speck of hope. Of light.

And so, his prayers were to be answered.

"GAAGHHH!!" Naruto yelled, as he fell to his knees, water all around him and dripping from his person, as quickly tried to grab his bearings around him. _What happened?! One second, I couldn't breathe! Couldn't see! And now…_Naruto looked up from his spot on the ground and to the area around him, to find himself in a bright room of some sorts. _I was in water…where am I?_

"_Hello."_

"WHOA!!" Naruto yelled, as he looked around for where the unknown voice came from inside the entirely white room. It didn't help, as the voice sounded like it came from all around the boy, not just from one place. "WHO'S THERE?!" Naruto yelled, not in the mood to be trifled with. He nearly just died, after all.

"_I am your savior."_ The voice spoke monotonously.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow, as he tried to get warmer from the once cold water and air. Luckily, the room was unnaturally warm. Thank Kami. "My savior?"

"_Yes. You would have surely died in those water were it not for me."_

"I didn't' ask to be saved!" Naruto yelled, before feeling completely stupid at what he'd just asked. Hadn't he just, a second ago, hoped for saving? "Uh, sorry about that." Naruto said awkwardly, as he scratched the back of his head. "But…where am I? I remember falling into the lake and then…nothing."

"_You are in a small piece of the Kryptonian; Fortress of Solitude. And yes, you did fall into that lake. But I saved you before you would have died." _The voice spoke, continuing to sound wise and ever knowing, as Naruto crossed his arms and looked out into the white abyss.

"Solitude? Kryptonian? What?" Naruto asked, not having a clue of what was going on. "Alright, one more time here?"

The voice seemed to almost…chuckle. _"No doubt this is all confusing to you. No doubt. But to put some of your eases to rest, Naruto Uzumaki, you are not-"_

"How do you know my name?" Naruto asked, growing ever so startled as this odd conversation went on.

"_I implore you to ask questions after this meeting. Now, as I was saying, you are not dead, as I previously told you. Your 'sensei' is unharmed…but is currently in some serious trouble, if my long range sensors compute right, with a woman who could very well be Kryptonian." _The voice chuckled again, as if it told a joke. _"But, those were all the worries I could sense were troubling you currently. Now, Naruto Uzumaki, I will allow you to ask me whatever questions you wish before I will tell you how you will alter what has already begun."_ The man's voice spoke out, as Naruto had an extremely questionable look on his face.

But, the man told him to ask his questions. So, he would. And he had a **lot **of questions**. "**How do you know my name?"

"_My optimal sensors searched your mind for answers to you past, present, dreams, accomplishments, personality, fears, and many other things."_ The voice spoke honestly, as the boy almost felt…offended by the mere thought of his personal thoughts being invaded. But, right now, he had more pressing matters to attend to. Like his numerous questions.

"Alright…Krypto-what?"

"_Kryptonian. The advance race who hailed from the planet Krypton. My home planet…prior to its destruction. __The planet was destroyed due to a massive geological disaster resulting from our son, Rao. We could have been warned of our disaster beforehand, preventing millions of lives from death, if not for…" _The voice grew angry towards the end, as Naruto listened intently to the tale that seemed so far fetched it was beyond belief. But, then again, who would believe he held Nine-tailed fox in his gut?

"Who?" Naruto asked, growing interested in this tale.

"_It is…an enemy I hope you never must face. Well, anyway, before the destruction of Krypton, I sent a boy; Kal-El, to the planet called 'Earth,' to be raised there, loved, and live a normal life before he would need to accept his destiny."_

"Kal-El? Earth?"

"_Like I said, the boy's name is Kal-El. And for the planet Earth, it is very similar to your planet. Lush in woods, oceans, life. Except, there are no 'ninja,' on the world. There technology is superior to your own, as well. It is a truly…wondrous world."_ The voice seemed almost transfixed on a thought of something, as if amazed by something.

Naruto was having difficulty keeping up with the voice's far fetched tale, but was able to keep up, albeit barely. "Alright. Um…who are you?" Naruto asked, finally figuring out he was talking to a man whose name he didn't even know.

"_My name…is Jor-El. Father of Kal-El."_

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at this new news, but regained his composure quickly. "Okay…what is this 'Fortress of Solitude?'?"

"_Well, this isn't the complete fortress of Solitude. The full fortress is somewhere on Earth, made by my son years ago. My son's spacecraft, which you should know was used by him to get to Earth, hit a small meteorite, which was part of my planet originally, and sent the small chunk of the ship here. Here, the crystal formed into a smaller form of Earth's fortress. While smaller, it is still connected to the larger fortress on Earth, thus, it still has the same knowledge that it does." _The voice spoke, as Naruto tried to download this bizarre amount of info into his head.

"This is…hard to believe."

"_No doubt."_

"But…why am I here?"

"_And that, Naruto Uzumaki, is where you shall play an important part for your future." _The voice spoke, as a gust of wind hit Naruto, thrusting his hair all around and forcing him to close his eyes from the sudden movement. Then, as quickly as the wind came, it left, and Naruto opened his eyes suspiciously and gawked at what he was seeing.

Space. He was in _outer_space. "Whoa..." Naruto gawked quietly, as he looked at the thousands of stars around him. It wasn't cold out here. It was so peaceful. Relaxing. "Amazing."

"_It is. Now, I will explain to you why Kryptonians are so special." _The voice, Jor-El, spoke out, as Naruto felt wind pass by him, along with hundreds of stars and various designs of rocks pass by him. Until, he stopped all of a sudden, thrusting Naruto forward a bit from the sudden stop, but otherwise keeping on his feet. Naruto looked up from his spot he nearly fell down at, unsure if he would continue to fall into oblivion of space or not, and looked at what he was seeing in surprise. A _red _sun.

"_Krypton circled around a red sun for centuries, as it had turned from a yellow sun, like your planets sun is, into a red sun long ago. During the red sun's time, we created advance technologies with the use of crystals. With these crystals, we could do almost anything. One crystal could power the planet Earth with enough electrical energy for one millennium, then take little over three decades to recharge its power, and it is environmentally friendly." _As Jor-El finished his sentence, a rod...no, a _diamond_like object appeared in front of Naruto, glowing slightly_. "It never ceases to amaze me how something so small can hold so much energy. But that is not all. We used these crystals to build out own homes, weapons, farms, food. These crystals had near infinite possibilities. And they were so easy to make._

_But, back to the red sun. With this new sun, we Kryptonians lost their incredible abilities, such as moving at supersonic speeds, lifting tons worth of material with ease, fire shooting from our eyes, and the ability to fly. These were just some of our abilities we had with our yellow sun."_ Jor-El paused, as he allowed Naruto to take in this new info.

Naruto pinched his arm. "Okay, so I'm not sleeping...I think. But, what does this have to do with me?"

"_Yes, I suppose I did side track a bit. What I am asking you, Naruto Uzumaki, is that you help protect the planet Earth which has a yellow sun, like our planet formerly had and yours currently has. I wish you to help my son in his task to 'purify' the planet."_ Jor-El spoke these words, as the scenery around Naruto changed again. Now, after catching his balance, he could see a green and blue...planet f some sorts, with a bright yellow star a ways away. Somehow, he knew it was Earth.

Naruto was at a loss at words. "But...but...if your son, uh, Kell-E, or something, is as strong as you say he is...how the hell can I help?" An honest question, if there was ever one.

The voice seemed to chuckle. _"I have thought of that. I have seen your capacity to do good, fight on when odds seem impossible, and the belief to never give up on people. I have seen this, and I believe it is a trait that the people of your time, and of Earth, greatly need."_

"...What are you saying?"

"_I am saying, Naruto Uzumaki, is that if you wish, I could sacrifice this small portion of the fortresses energy and reconfigure your DNA from a human into a Kryptonian."_

...You can expect Naruto's...hell, _anyone's _reaction. Surprise would most likely be the one that stood out the most really. "K...Kryptowan?"

Jor-El chuckled. _"Kryptonian. And yes, I could do these things. But only for you. Once I do this, I will never be able to do it again. I am giving you the chance to be something great, Naruto. On this planet, even though you will walk among them, you will not be one of them. You be more powerful, physically, than any other man on this planet. You will, in a manner of speaking, be a god among men. _

_But, with these powers, comes sacrifices."_

Naruto looked up to the sky, or what should have been the sky, and raised an eyebrow. He didn't like where this was going. "Like what?"

"_With these powers, I ask you, shortly after you turn fourteen, to take one of the Kryptonian ship in the fortress to Earth and help my son."_

"But, I'm already-"

"_Patience. I shall explain it later. The second requ...sacrifice, will be that once you leave the planet of Ibonihs, your home planet, and never return unless under my orders."_

"But…but this is my home?" Naruto said sadly, barely in a whisper, as the thought of never coming back saddened him greatly.

"_Some sacrifices must be made for the greater good. And your final sacrifice, and the most harmful, is that…you must sacrifice one person you care about deeply for your powers."_

"WHAT?! NO WAY!! NO DEAL!!"

"_Naruto, please, control yourself-"_

"NOT A CHANCE!! I WOULD NEVER-"

"_Naruto, are the lives of millions…no, billions, truly worth the life of one? Would you not sacrifice yourself to save them?"_

Naruto seemed stunned by these questions. "Well…yeah, I would, but-"

"_Naruto, some choices in your life will be altered greatly. This is your chance to do something great. Change history exponentially. You could change the very outlook of an entire galaxy with your powers. Now, would you really not sacrifice just one man for the safety of the countless?"_

Naruto was stunned by this rant. It was so true, it was painful. It…it would be the right thing to do. And it pained him to think of what he was about to do. "Al…alright, Jor-El…I'll do it."

"…_It is a wise decision, Naruto Uzumaki. One, I will guarantee, you will _not_ regret." _As Jor-El finished his sentence, a rush of cold air blew at Naruto from all directions, as symbols passed through him like he were intangible. The space around him turned dark, and Naruto felt like he was going through such an adrenaline rush.

And, despite what he just said moments ago, Naruto couldn't help but enjoy the rush of new energy that was going through him.

And then, as fast as the symbols and darkness came around the boy, they disappeared, leaving the teen blind to all around him.

"_This is where you trials and destiny _truly_start, Naruto Uzumaki of Krypton…"_

"Naruto…Naruto…NARUTO!!"

"AGHH!!" Naruto yelled, as his head shot upward and he fell onto his back, hard, as laughing was heard all around him. Naruto blinked his eyes open, as he looked around at where he was, and nearly choked on his own breath.

He was in his homeroom of the academy. Naruto turned his head to see Iruka's disapproving look on his face, before twisting his head again, and saw all his classmates. All of them. Even…Sasuke. _What the? What's-? _Naruto thought, before he noticed himself tied up tightly with rope. _Rope…wait…the day before the exam…THIS ISN'T POSSIBLE!! _Naruto thought to himself, as Iruka cut off the ropes on Naruto.

"Well, Naruto, since you so rudely fell asleep to lecture, can you tell me what I just asked?" Iruka asked, as Naruto looked up at his face, surprise obviously noticeable on the boy's face.

"We…uh, we're taking a pop quiz on henges." Naruto said, still completely transfixed on what was going.

Iruka looked at the boy in surprise, but merely nodded. Naruto seemed…surprised for some reason. "Uh, very good Naruto…um, go stand over there please. Class get into a line please." Iruka ordered, as the class groaned but followed the order none the less. Naruto walked up to his place in line, ignoring the angry looks from his classmates. _What's going on here? This…this can't be right. How could this be happening?_ Naruto asked himself, as he tried to calm himself down, but to no avail. _This is a dream. It has to be!_

"Uzumaki Naruto. You're up." Iruka called, as Naruto looked up to him in surprise but none the less walked up to him. "Henge into me, please."

Naruto nodded, as he concentrated and mumbled. "**Henge**."

Poof!

"Um…excellent Naruto…good job." Iruka said in relative surprise, having expected to see some sort of trick from the blond, **not** a perfect transformation. And by the looks of the class, neither were they.

Naruto walked slowly back to his seat in the classroom, as Iruka went through the rest of the class and went into a long and borrowing speech on the exam for tomorrow. Naruto wasn't listening, though. _This…this isn't possible. How can I be here? This shouldn't be possible!_

_**Don't worry, Naruto. All shall be explained soon on. Have patience.**_

"Huh?" Naruto said allowed, as he looked around to where the voice came from. _Jor-El? _Naruto thought allowed, as he suddenly felt something heavy in his pocket. Naruto, out of instinct, reached into his pocket and pulled out a…crest. A symbol of some sorts. An almost diamond shaped symbol, about the size of his middle finger or so, wrapped around a metal string of some sorts. Smooth, but seemed as hard as diamonds and as light as paper. It glowed a faint hint of blue around its blue structure…and had the symbol of an 'S' in it.

Naruto looked at the crest like symbol in his hands in an almost _daze_, before hearing one final message spoken to him by Jor-El before he wouldn't hear the man for a very long time.

_**Welcome to the House of El, Naruto.**_

_**-**_

**Alright! That's my first Naruto/DC (in reality) crossover. Hope you enjoyed it. Along with all my other stories.**

**Also, I wonder who I should put Naruto with. I was thinking on the lines of Supergirl, but if anyone has another recommendation…throw me a bone.**

**Hope this peaks your interests.**


	6. Man by Dawn…Monster by Night…

**Man by Dawn…Monster by Night…**

**By T.O.W.A.**

**Chapter one: Dusk of Anew**

**Recently, I have been seeing a lot of 'Naruto/Vamp' fics. **

**So, naturally, being the curious person I am, I decided to give it a shot. **

**Behold! My fic. It has its own universe to it, to which if anyone gets confused; please don't hesitate to ask questions. I enjoy helping others as much as I can.**

**I have sent it to a few people already. They have told me that it is a little confusing. Hopefully, if you get confused, review it, and tell me what you think and how I could clear up a few things.**

* * *

The creatures of the night. The lifless. The cold ones. The blood suckers. So many names for the creatures that haunt us in our sleep.

A 'myth' if there ever was one. I don't even have to tell you what they are called. You can guess that of which I speak of.

A 'myth,' never given a second thought on. Fake. Legend. Just some story people made up to scare children in there beds.

A 'myth.'

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

But then, where did the stories start? History has the answer. But there is also tale of history and legends.

'History became legend. Legend became myth.'

So what is the truth? Do they exist? Are they real? Or are they merely 'myth?'

I don't have the answers.

But, that doesn't mean I don't have a tale that will chill your bones and throw you through a torment of a story.

Here, is where the story begins.

This is the story of Naruto Uzumaki.

Ninja.

Friend.

Ally.

Jinchuuriki.

_**Vampire**..._

* * *

"_Demon! Kill him!"_

"_Don't let him escape!"_

_Sounds of struggle. Then screams. Blood curling screams._

"_We've got him!"_

_Cheers._

"_Come on guys. Let's take the 'boy' somewhere nice and comfy."_

_Time passed. I'm not sure how long I was carried on the guys shoulder, really. The wind passing through my hair didn't answer any of my unasked questions, and being blindfolded didn't help. By how fast we were moving in the wind, I guessed it was someone with ninja training who was pulling me along for the __ride__._

_Eventually, the rushing of air stopped, and I felt the man drop me to the ground, my body felt like shit from all the wounds I was suffering from. The drop didn't improve things._

_I felt myself roughly thrown into something hard, pressed against it roughly, as something rapped around me tightly several times, pushing me hard to the wall._

_The blindfold was then pulled off of me, revealing the woods to my sight. I had a pretty decent knowledge of the forests and woods around the village, having had to run through them to escape danger several times before. I knew though, for a fact, that I had never been here in my whole life._

_I looked __above__ myself, as the full moon laid over myself, then looked at my captors. My protectors were standing in front of me, as well. The ANBU. ANBU had captured me, their white animal masks looking down on my. "Why?" I gasped between the pain and the tight ropes._

_They laughed. "A demon had no words in the matters. But, the boys and I are feelin' a bit merciful today. So, we'll leave you for the wolves, tonight. Hehe, fitting that you should die here, isn't it? Where it all began…" The five ANBU began to laugh at the awkwardness. I held my tears that were threatening to flow down my face. But I wouldn't cry. I wouldn't. "Come on. This kids no fun anymore." The apparent leader yelled, as the men dashed away into the night like a blur._

_Silence._

_Just silence._

_And that's when I let my tears fall down onto my face._

_And then, after feeling like my life had truly gone to hell…I screamed. _

* * *

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" A boy screamed from the apartment bed, as he snapped up from his bed, sweating profusely and gasping for breath. The boy took a minute to center himself, as he placed a hand through his head and breathed in a sigh of relief. "Just a dream…another dream…" _More like another nightmare._ The blond boy thought/said, still shaken up and looking like he'd run a marathon in his sleep.

_I've got to shake these dreams, yikes._ The boy thought, as he yawned a bit before looking out of his bedroom window and smiled, almost wickedly.

Sunset.

The boy continued to smile, as he stood up from the bed and began to change from his unnaturally bright jumpsuit clothing, to something a bit more…shady. _A ninja has to be…sneaky. And I think being connected to…well, what I look like wouldn't make my life in this place any easier. _The boy thought, as he threw on his black, long-sleeved hoodie and his black ninja pants. It was never cold in fire country. But, not being seen was a need for what he did every night since…well, since he was six.

The boy breathed in a deep breath, as if he smelled something nice in the air. And, as he looked out of the window, the sun set on the horizon.

And the change was…amazing.

The boy closed his eyes, as he felt what felt like a cool, relaxing, wonderful breeze flow through his whole being.

Then, a series of changes occurred that almost seemed supernatural in appearance.

The boy's hair seemed to almost turn…metallic, while still retaining a bit of its original blondness. It grew a few inches down in all general directions, as well as becoming more frazzled up in appearance. It almost seemed…feral.

Next were his whisker-like birthmarks, three on each cheek. They vanished completely, along with his skin turning even paler in color, but it also seemed to work for the blonde's new look.

Next, the boy's muscle structure changed. Not bulky and built to the bone, but enough to see there was some change to himself.

Then, the rush was over, and the boy smiled, revealing his elongated canines. "Village of Konoha…Uzumaki Naruto is off to hunt." The boy, Naruto Uzumaki, said with a newer and…seductive voice. Naruto opened his eyes slowly, after feeling the rush of the transformation leave his body, revealing the deep blue eyes from before replaced with deep, _red_ ones. Same shape, different color.

Naruto walked to his window overlooking the village, opened it up, and felt dozens upon dozens of new smells rush his new enhanced senses. The village may have been darkening to normal human eyes without the sun, but to Naruto's, it might as well have been the middle of the day. He could see _everything_ as clear as day.

The boy jumped out of the window and twisted in the air so he could place his feet just slightly under the windowsill and onto the wall of the apartment complex, sticking to it like it was nothing. Naruto quietly closed his window and made sure it was securely shut, before smiling slightly and looking out into the village and jumped away at high speeds, moving like a shadow through the village.

* * *

In a deserted training ground, occupied by few things besides beasts of great sizes, man eating plants, and a few types of animals that weren't predatory, lied a man of unknown origin (besides to himself), an unknown personality (besides to himself), and an unknown name.

He was young. Perhaps early thirties, if looks were anything to go by. Had moderately long brown hair, hard eyes, and wore dark clothes that had clearly seen better days, and was currently resting in his 'hut' inside the training area. Unaffected by time, it seemed, and the wild animals of the forest seemed, almost…fearful to go near the place.

Some, who had seen the hut, which were very few, said it was a holy place, given immortality to the area and its structure by Kami herself, or whatever god/goddess there is out there. Some say the very forest fears the man that lives in the hut, himself. There have been many questions asked about the strange hut, but no one dared go near it.

Well, except one person, that is.

But now we find the very man in his hut, before an altar of some sorts, apparently praying.

It was quiet in the hut. Practically no movement at all, besides the flickering lights of the candles on the white altar, its lights flickering off the wooden walls around the altar, and the man's occasional light breathing. The man was, apparently, either praying, meditating, or had fallen asleep while praying.

But, once again, there was silence in the altar room. Just the man and his altar.

"Good evening." The man said in passive, and almost bored, tone, as he opened his eyes. "I expected you to be awhile ago. Where were you?" The man asked, not even turning his head in any general direction.

"I got a quick bite." Said a firm, yet almost musical, voice from the darkness. "How did you know I was here in the first place?"

"Two ways. One, you smell of blood-"

"Deer blood, thank you. I don't drink human blood."

"And I smelled something burning. This is a holy place, kid. I'm surprised every time you come in here that you don't erupt into flames. Most of your kind would have." The man said as an afterthought at the end.

"What can I say? I'm special." A figure dropped from the darkness behind the man, a slight amount of smoke protruding from the figure. The hooded man, or boy, brought his nails…_claws _to his lips, and licked the excess blood from them. The buck was a good, healthy meal. Sure, ramen had its taste to it. But blood…it was that times five. It was a terrible thought, but Naruto restrained himself from drinking human blood, so he thought it was okay. He didn't even long for the different taste that it might have brought. Nope. Not once…

"Special? How old are you? Seven? Eight?"

"Twelve. Soon to be thirteen." The boy answered angrily, his fangs growing ever so slightly in his mouth. He quickly calmed himself down by breathing in deeply, returning the fangs back to their original length.

"Twelve, fine. But I don't believe a _twelve_ year old even knows the meaning of special."

"I'm not stupid."

"Could've fooled me." The man jested, as the boy growled at him. "By the way, Nocturne,"

"What?" The hooded figure asked, as the man slowly turned from his sitting position to his guest with his hard eyes.

"When are you going to tell me your _real _name?" The man asked, as the boy crossed his arms, the expression on his face hidden because of the hoodie.

"I've told you before, I will...when you tell me what I _am_ _and_ what _your _real name is, Cardinal." The boy answered firmly, as the man smirked. He didn't need to try and trick the boy on his real name. As Nocturne had said, he wasn't _that_ stupid.

"Not a chance, kid. You'll have to find out what you truly are on your own. As for my name…well, you'll have to beat the answers out of me to know that one." The man said with a smile, as his guest shook his head. Nocturne didn't know why, but he _really_ wanted to know this guy's name. It was a mystery in its own rights.

"A foolish endeavor, it would be. I'm still not powerful enough to defeat you, _yet, _and your…tools." The boy said, with a slight tint of anger, as his head motioned to the item on the altar.

The cross.

"But you will?" The man asked with a chuckle, as the boy pounded his chest fiercely.

"On my life." The boy swore, as the man just nodded once before he stood up tall and looked at the boy.

"Then let today's lessons begin." The man swung his hand forward, as a crossbow appeared out of seemingly nowhere and began to fire bolts in rapid succession, as the boy, code named himself Nocturne, jumped to the roof of the room to avoid the projectiles.

"Ah, and here I was hoping we could be friends." The boy mocked his mentor, as he jumped away from more bolts of the crossbow and out of the hut/holy home, the man pursuing the boy, almost excitedly.

"The man smirked, as he reached into one of his jackets inside pockets, pulled at an object, and placed it securely on his head quickly, never breaking stride from the chase.

A cowboy hat.

* * *

Naruto his behind a tree silently from his target, as he closed his eyes, which thus enhanced his other senses at the moment for some odd reason and concentrated. Hearing, smells, tastes, touches. All enhanced at the lost of his sight. And so, he listened at his opponent's incredibly soft footsteps, not a hundred feet away from himself. _ANBU__ are easier to hear then this guy. _Naruto mused, as he jumped into the trees, sticking to them with ease, as he flipped around the branches and the trees with stealth, before he found the man in a clearing, looking for the boy, crossbow ready and armed with new bolts. Naruto cringed at the new bolts, as they really hurt, before breathing in deeply and gave out a high-pitched…whistle?

The hunter continued to search for the boy, sighing sadly, as the boy was now using something he'd recently been using, but hoped he would have stopped so the matches would have been easier for himself.

Tactics. While he was proud of his unofficial student, he still liked to have his own free time.

The man just sighed at the young boy, who had grown since their first 'lesson' two years ago. It had, originally, not taken the man much effort at all to beast him. But now, he couldn't hesitate for a second, unless he wanted to get…killed.

_Psst…_

The man turned quickly to a patch of leaves in the high trees from where the whistle had come from that was barely audible, and released a stream of projectiles at its direction.

No scream. No hit.

The man quickly began to look around once more for any sign of movement from the boy. No movement. Just the sound of…rustling trees.

…No…this sound wasn't rustling…more like…

Flapping.

"Oh…" Suddenly, thousands of little black objects flew rapidly from all directions towards the holy man, flying around him in a dome like structure. He was trapped. "…shit…this is new."

"Glad you like it, Cardinal. Been practicing it for awhile. But it is so hard to find good amounts of bats in one area, ya' know?" The firm voice of the boy came from all directions of the man, who just kept calm through the whole thing. His heartbeat hadn't even risen a little.

Then, from behind the man, Naruto appeared out of nowhere from the bat dome, sharp claws aimed for the man's open back, and Naruto's red eyed become seeable through his dark and useable face, his fangs grew slightly to be seeable over his lips, and his claws literally cutting the air as he flew at the man.

The rush was intense and so…great.

PSST!!

…The pain…not so much.

Naruto gasped in pain, as a silver, holy water dripping, retractable steak, Cardinal always carried around, flew through his jacket, splitting through it, and nailed the boy in his shoulder, Cardinal stepping to the side of the iron dagger sharp claws, narrowly dodging them.

Naruto was stunned in place from both the stinging pain of the steak, and the poison like feeling from the holy water dripping from it. Luckily, it wasn't a fatal wound, so neither the steak, nor the holy water, would kill him.

Naruto quickly pulled the steak out of his now heavily bleeding shoulder and back-flipped, once more gracefully, into the dome of still circling bats, turning invisible almost instantly.

Cardinal, now getting annoyed with the screeching and flapping of the bats, decided to end his trainees little trick. Cardinal reached into his coat pockets, pulled out several small, marble like objects, and threw them to the ground.

The effect was almost instant, as the marbles went off like thousands of firecrackers around the man, startling the bats and making them quickly retreat from the sudden noise.

Leaving the in-pain Naruto/Nocturne clear to all in the clearing's view, hanging on a tree, grabbing a hold of his stinging shoulder.

But, do to the high pitched noise of the marbles, which left a short ringing in the boy's high sense of hearing; Naruto never heard the bolts of the crossbow fly at him.

But, his sense of touch was still alive, so he did feel them hit his body.

And, he did feel the ground when he lost his hold on the tree and fell, along with the bolts being pushed further into his body with the fall, causing him extreme amounts of pain.

And yet, he was still conscious, albeit barely.

"Ow…holy water burns…" The blond moaned, as Cardinal walked up beside him and began to pull out the bolts from the boy's body, painfully.

"Well, you're lucky. Any normal v…one of your kind would have either died from the amount of…injuries you have taken," he said, a she pulled a rather tight bolt from the boy's thigh, "or would have spent weeks to fully heal from the wounds…and yet," Cardinal turned to the steak wound on the boy's shoulder and sighed, "you're healing like this was a normal wound to your kind." The man said, as he saw the steak wound already begin to close quickly, a small strand of steam coming from the wound. _What can kill you, Nocturne? You heal like your kind should just like from normal weapons, even if it is still a little slower. But still…what happened during your change? What happened to make you different than your own?_

"Again, what can I say? I'm special." The blond said with an almost musical chuckle, as he slowly sat upright by himself. One of the first rules Cardinal gave him. 'Fend for yourself.' While Cardinal did help with getting the bolts out of his body, he did very little of anything else. Tough love.

"Hm, alright, well, besides that, anything else you want to do?" Cardinal asked, as Naruto jumped into a nearby tree after the last bolt was pulled out.

"Na. I'm good for today. I'm gonna get a little exercise before the sun rises, so…later!" Naruto yelled, as he began to jump away quickly from the battle sight, ignoring the pain his body was feeling incredibly, yet was still fast and graceful as always. It was…odd. But it also seemed...enchanting, almost, to the eyes as well.

Cardinal watched the boy fly away into the night, before sighing, grabbed his various weapons, and headed back to his home.

_He'll be back tomorrow. _Cardinal thought, as he tilted his hat over his eyes and walked away from the battlefield.

* * *

The rest of the night at the Forest of Death was relatively uneventful. Naruto had hoped to have found a few tigers or so to fight or perhaps a giant…anything. His luck had run sour that night, as he found zip.

"(Sigh) Guess it was a short night." Naruto said slowly to himself, as he touched down on the road just outside of his apartment building, having returned from hunting after getting quickly bored, and turned to the east of the road, towards the sky as a ray of light showed over the Hokage Monument.

Then, the smallest glint of the bright, enormous yellow star showed over the Nidaime Hokage's head formation.

Naruto threw up his hoodie's hood, revealing his, strangely, extremely handsome face to the whole, sleeping village. Naruto breathed in deeply, lifting his head slightly and closing his eyes, as a wave of wind flew through the village's streets, lifting up dust and stray leaves around the area, before it began to circle the calm and preserved blond in a mini-tornado of dust, dirt, and leaves.

Naruto felt himself then begin to…change…it's the best word for it, really.

His claws retracted back to normal sizes.

His hair lost its metallic look to it and grew back to its 'day size.'

His pale skin retained some of its original tan-ness.

His muscles retracted. He was still a bit muscular. Just not as much as at…well, his 'changed' form.

His whiskers 'grew' back, his senses dulled back to normal, (or, at least, normal for one with the Kyuubi no Kitsune in him/her) his eyes turned back to their original deep blueness, and his canines returned to their smaller, less notable sizes.

Naruto breathed in a sigh of depression, as his de-transformation finished itself, before he grudgingly walked up the stairs of his apartment complex, opened his apartment door slowly, changed into a new, clean orange jumpsuit outfit, walked over to his bed, and fell over onto it. He wasn't tired. But a short nap before class never hurt.

Six A.M.

Two hours to rest.

* * *

Its funny how, in your sleep, two hours just fly by.

Well, Naruto was flying through the village in his new orange attire, his wounds completely healed from the fight earlier, allowing the blond to move with more speed than he possibly could have while hurt. He felt the soothing breeze fly through his 'sun-kissed' (don't you just hate that saying?) hair. _Kami__, I wish the night would come sooner. _The boy thought angrily, as he jumped over a particularly large building with ease. While the boy may have lost most of his abilities of his night form, he retained, at least, _some_ of his strength, speed, and a little bit of reflex. But, besides that, all of his powers were locked until he hid from the sun.

_At least I can relax a bit after these exams are over. Kami knows I don't need these tests at all. _Naruto continued to complain, before deciding to shift his personality back into it's _always_ 'happy/annoying/deadlast' self. While he was happy to be happy most of the time, being annoying, **_always _**happy, and the _supposed_ weakest in the class was annoying. _But, I can't risk people knowing my secret and connecting me to anyone. I'm already hated here. Don't need anymore of it. So, playing the role of 'fool' works just grandly for me. _Naruto thought sadly. Hopefully, when he became a ninja in a couple weeks, he wouldn't have to act like he did during the day anymore.

Hopefully.

But, Naruto strayed from his thoughts as he landed on the roof of the academy. Naruto sighed, as he took the stairs down to the lower levels of the academy, found his home room, and, seemingly, almost _glided_ to his desk.

Naruto lowered his head to the desk soundlessly, becoming almost invisible to the others to the class like he'd done so very often when he wasn't trying to act like an idiot. Naruto tried to block out the fan-girl yelling from the middle of the class about the Uchiha, the snoring from Shikamaru, and the loud munching from Chouji next to the sleeping pineapple-head.

This was going to be a _long _day.

_Nine days, Naruto. Just nine more and I am out of here…hmm…maybe a small graduation day surprise will need to be in order. _The blond thought with a mischievous smile. While he didn't like to act like a bumbling idiot all the time, he did enjoy some of the perks it came with. Like pranks.

But, class began then, when his friend and mentor, Iruka Umino, began his lesson for the day, silencing everyone for the day's class. Naruto sighed sadly, as this was going to be yet another boring lesson.

_As usual. (Sigh) will anything ever change for me? _The blond asked himself, as he dwindled into his daydreams for tonight. Unknowing to himself that change was just north of Konoha.

* * *

"Ah, kaa-san, are we there yet?" Asked a young, clearly female, voice, on a road just north of Konoha.

"No, honey, I've told you before, we'll be there soon. Have patience." Replied a clearly older and motherly voice.

"But it's so boring. The others are just walking. Hell, I'd rather hang out with Jono-teme then just walk around like this. Can't I go-"

"No, little sister. Day is still brewing, as you can clearly see. So stop your bickering. You're annoying the rest of the clan." An older, yet not as older as the mother, voice spoke.

"But-"

"And you don't know any good forest grounds around here." The older voice continued, interrupting the young girl once more.

"Yeah, but-"

"_And,_ since we are in unfamiliar territory, you will have to take a partner."

"I AM _NOT _TAKING THAT IDIOT, JONO!!" the girl yelled, as she couldn't imagine being with _him_ for even a second.

"Then you will remain quiet for the remainder of the trip to Konoha, Yuki."

The young girl, Yuki, 'hmmphed' in anger, as she crossed her arms in an upset gesture, but continued to walk with her clan despite it.

To potential watchers who were watching the girl and her clan, which consisted not only her family but others as well that had joined from all over the elemental countries. A good forty people or so, there little group would have looked like nothing more than wandering merchant party.

…With all the members having different hair colors and eye colors…nothing odd about them at all.

Most carried packages that held trading items for selling, along with having a few wagons full of merchandise and such. The group walked around, in somewhat silence, but sometimes with a few laughs. They just wanted night to come so they could relax.

"Mira-nee-san?" The young girl, Yuki, squeaked out, as the older girl beside her looked down to her.

"Hmm?"

"Where is father? Why hasn't he returned yet?" Yuki asked, as she looked up questionably to her always calm, twenty-two year old sister. Mira had long, curly silver hair, like their father, that reached deep down her, frankly, beautiful body. Her face was perfect. Her composure was perfect. She was an angel in her own rights in every way. And Yuki, in one small part of her being, was jealous of her sister because of it.

Yuki had medium length, smooth, raven black hair that she had inherited from her mother, like Mira had inherited her coloring of hair from her father, that seemed be as smooth as silk and as light as a feather to the touch and look. She had a frankly soft, smooth face, if not a mouth-watering face for a twelve year old. She had a body similar to her sisters when she was young as she saw from old pictures her father showed her, which she thanked Kami for…then would feel very awkward about later on. Her eyes were a soft shade of red that seemed to almost put you in a trance when you looked into them and held an entrancing flame to them. Soft lips that fit her face perfectly, that when she smiled warmed the soul, it seemed...like looking upon the face of an angel.

In all rights, like her older sister, she was beautiful.

But she was not happy even with her looks, or being reminded on how beautiful she was from her only age-mate in her clan group. Jono. The fourteen year old, fellow clan member was anything but kind hearted. Pervert, ass, constantly tried to flirt his way into her heart. A bastard, in short. And no matter what she said, he wouldn't back off.

_Why can't he go flirt with one of the other girls? There's Jess and An-Gel. _Yuki wondered, as she thought of her two friends that were among her clan and her age. Twin's, they were, and her best friends. Although, currently, they were with their father and talking about something that seemed important, so she kept to herself.

But, she couldn't help but feel that her life felt almost…incomplete, for some reason. She just didn't know why.

"Your father was sent earlier today to get us a spot in the village to sell off our goods." Their mother, who looked around mid-thirties, answered beside the girls, as she continued to relax and enjoy their walk to the village. One of the things Yuki couldn't figure how to do. Just relax on the road. She needed something to do. Someone to talk to. Activity.

"Well…how long-"

"Right now." Mira answered her continuously active sister, as Yuki looked ahead of her fellow clan members, and noticed the gates coming up closer. This brought an excited smile to her face, as she looked around to her fellow clan members, who held familiar smiles as well. Best thing that's happened to them in a week.

"Hallelujah."

"Yukiaria…" Her mother groaned, feeling the incredible awkwardness that that little word held within it for them.

"Right, sorry, sorry." The girl said quickly, giving them a quick smile as they walked onward into the city gates. The clan quickly gave their passports to the guards at the front of the gates, signifying them as 'just merchants,' before walking inward into the town and towards the village's merchant section.

The merchant section had mainly two parts to it, both large in size for both sections. One was for building and permanent merchants, such as restaurants and such. The other was for non-permanent merchants/traveling merchants. It was a free merchant section, where you could basically camp out there, sell what you wanted, and leave whenever you wanted. Overall, it was a pretty sweet deal. And business was always good for new traders, got to love that, and everything was pretty well for Konoha. Got new stuff for Konoha, the merchants make a shiny ryo dollar. Everyone wins.

But, I'm getting technological. Back to the story.

The merchant group walked slowly through the village towards the merchant sections, as a familiar, tall, short silver haired man, with a handsome face, came into view of the group, lightening up everyone's moods with his soft smile. That meant good news for them. "CHICHIOYA!!" Yuki yelled, as she waved over to her calm, around early forties father, who just sighed and shook his head.

"Yuki, we are in public, calm down." The tall man, now known as Yuki's father, said firmly, yet calmly, as fellow members of the clan giggled at the young girl's embarrassment. While, they did it in a playful mean, it still made the girl embarrassed.

"So, Bannin, you find us a place?" Asked one of the other male members of the clan, who like the others, was quiet handsome in appearance.

"Yep. Nice, good amount of space. Near some forest, as well." This lifted some moods greatly. While the clan didn't eat more than they needed, they hadn't stopped moving for over a week. They were growing restless and uptight with the lack of nourishment. Regular food and drink could sustain them for, perhaps, a week before the clan began to get woozy and get risky and go on nightly hunts into unknown territory. It had been just a week and a few days since their last meal, which meant the clan was getting hungrier as time passed. They could survive, though their attitudes would become almost…vicious with time. They had a few transfusion packs with them, but they couldn't take too many, as it would look suspicious to others, and it was usually left to younger members of the clan, as they needed the blood to sustain themselves more than the adults did. Although, strangely enough, tomato juice worked rather well for nourishment for them as well. Unfortunately, they were out.

The clan thanked Bannin for the spot, as they walked over to the large patch of land and began to unload the large wagons full of supplies and sellable items, as well as began to set up tents for the stay and get things ready for the long stay.

"Yuki," Bannin said behind his daughter, startling her slightly. Bannin shook his head in disappointment at his daughter, who cringed slightly at his disapproval. Bannin reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter, "take this over to the Hokage's office near the Hokage monument. It's a big red office, so you shouldn't miss. Understood? Or, should I send your sister with you, as well?" This easily made Yuki cringe, but shake her head no.

"I can do this on my own, father." Yuki said firmly, but with certain unease to her voice, as her father looked her over for a moment before nodding and taking the letter. "Um, f-father, uh…may I go hunting afterwards, as well. I'll take Jess and An-Gel with me." Yuki added hastily, as her father looked her face over with his piercing grey eyes, before nodding and motioning her off, as she quickly began to run towards the Hokage's office. Not at speeds her kind could go to, but speeds that a merchant girl was expected to go at.

Bannin sighed at his youngest daughter, as a soft hand began to rub his right shoulder comfortably. "You go to hard on that girl. Give her a little break." A soft voice spoke from behind him, as he sighed sadly. His wife.

"She takes after you, as Mira takes after me." He said in a slightly sad tone, as he placed his own hand over his wife's.

"And Yuki taking after me is a bad thing?" His wife questioned, as Bannin smirked.

"Yes. Yes it is. Do you know how hard it was to keep other boys, both of our kind and human kind from going off and asking you out? Honestly, I had to fight several of our kind _just _to keep off of you." This just caused his wife to giggle her smooth, relaxing giggle.

"Well, glad to know you love me so much. I was worrying for awhile you didn't care for me." She said teasingly, as his wife looked over to the quickly finishing campsite and sighed. "But, you should try to comfort her. She is your daughter." She pointed out.

"I know. (Sigh) Fine, I'll…try and improve our relationship."

"She loves you. She just wants you to love her back."

Bannin paused for a second. "You're wrong." This caught his wife off guard, as she gave him a questionable look. "That's not true at all. I do love her. I just…want her to be strong for the future. I just hope she will by her own ways, instead of my 'cheerful' manner." He said sarcastically, as his wife giggled at him before the two of them went to help set up for the buyers that, surprisingly, were already lining up to buy something.

…And, being what they were, which naturally came with very good looks, did help them out immensely, as well, with the opposite, and occasionally same, sex.

* * *

"Hello. I'm here to see the Hokage?" Yuki said to the reading-a-magazine secretary, after navigating through the village and quickly finding the large red office building…and ignoring the looks she was receiving from the villagers around her. Wasn't her fault she was beautiful. They didn't have to stare at her so much, though. Have some decency.

"He's in a meeting now with a fellow ninja, but he should be out soon. If you would please wait over there," the secretary motioned to some chairs off to the side of the room, "he'll be able to meet you in a moment." The woman said sweetly, as Yuki nodded, and turned around and-

Walked into someone. "Uh." She muttered, as she ran into a hard, well chiseled body. She backed up slightly from said person, feeling like she walked into a wall slightly and looked upward at the person's… "Whoa." She muttered under her breath, as she looked at the person's smooth, skinny face. _Whoa…_ She thought, as she continued to stare at the boy's face, as it seemed to give off a faint glow of some sort. And his eyes…

"My apologies. I should have stood back a bit." The boy's firm voice spoke, as the girl, who was only a few inches away still, continued to stare at the boy's deep blue eyes, as the boy looked into her eyes as well. He noticed something…different about her eyes that he never saw in any other villager's eyes before. Like her eyes saw through his soul. But, the way she was staring at him made him groan.

_Just like every time I look at a girl. Why do they do that? _He thought with a groan, as he reached into his pockets and pulled out some…sunglasses. "Better?" He asked, as he placed them over his eyes, as the girl began to blink like she was in a daze. Unfortunately, she felt the boy's eyes still on her. His deep, mysterious..._amazing_ eyes.

"Huh?" The girl muttered, as the boy chuckled at her continually dazed look.

"Nothing. Sorry about standing so close to you." He spoke softly, as he looked her over and figured out quickly that she wasn't from around here.

Yuki just continued to look the boy over, as she noticed the whisker-like marks over his cheeks, three on each side. She felt oddly compelled to touch them and feel his skin around them. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice him quickly, and with a surprising amount of grace for a human, walk past her and up to the counter. "May I see jiji-san, ma'am?" He asked, as Yuki turned behind herself quickly, and noticed the secretary lose all her sweetness to the boy in an instant.

"Didn't you hear me before?" She asked angrily, as Yuki scoffed at the venom in her voice. The boy seemed unfazed. "I said he will be out in a minute. Wait your turn."

The boy nodded. "Thank you." He said kindly, as he looked over to Yuki, his eyes covered by his glasses, as he walked past her and sat down in a nearby chair, sitting down in a position as if thinking of something that was troubling him. Yuki continued to stare at the boy in oddness, as she looked him over and, while he had a body that was amazing, his bright orange jumpsuit didn't fit the boy at all. The boy had to be, what, five-foot-five or something? It just didn't seem to work unless he was smaller.

Yuki was so caught up in her thoughts; she hadn't realized she was still standing up. Feeling embarrassed, she quickly sat down away from the blond boy and waited for her turn up.

Unfortunately, her eyes kept darting to the boy who laid comfortably in his seat. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but when she looked at him once, he smiled to her, causing her to feel embarrassed at being caught and look away.

"I'm telling you, Hokage-Sama, something isn't right with Training Ground 42!" Came a yell from the office above them. It was barely a whisper really, but, as Yuki was something…special, it was quiet easy to hear. And, as she concentrated, she could hear the conversation very clearly now.

"Now Anko, really, it is the Forest of Death." Came a calm voice through the ceiling, impossible to hear with _normal _ears.

"So! Something is in their preying on the life of the forest. Not just simple bucks. Hell, anything in that forest can eat a deer. What I'm talking about is that I SAW A TIGER DEAD!! A TIGER!!"

"Now, Anko, there are-"

"Sir, the thing was stripped away of ALL its blood. Like it was killed only for its blood!"

"Perhaps a spider of some sorts from Kiri or one of the other countries up north."

"No webs. Look, Hokage-sama, as much as I would like to believe this was just a _normal_ thing; I believe that there is something out there that has a taste for blood."

Not to surprisingly enough, Yuki's eyes began to widen as the conversation went on. _A vampire…in Konoha? _Well, it wouldn't be too surprising. There were some that settled down to relax after all, usually powerful families unlike hers. There were those, like herself and her family, which moved around. And there were those that weren't even in the elemental countries. Off to some distant lands of the unknown. It was hard to say if there would be any near Konoha. But she noted to herself to talk to her father about-

"Hmhm." A soft chuckle, barely audible, rolled in the room. Yuki looked up suddenly, as she turned to where the sound came from. The boy. He had a soft, barely notable smile on his face. He just smiled. _But what at? _Yuki wondered, but couldn't continue, as a voice came from the secretary's desk.

"_Send in the next one."_

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The woman said to the intercom, as she turned to the girl and motioned her to some nearby stairs. Yuki nodded, as she quickly stood up and walked towards the stairs, keeping her eyes on the boy the entire time.

The boy chuckled, as he gave her a small wave goodbye. She'd been caught in the act. Not knowing really what to do, she quickly ran up the stairs, not caring to keep the disguise of a normal human after she was out of sight.

Well, it was easy to find the Hokage's room, as the sign over the door gave it away, as she walked into the room with confidence and noticed quickly the old man, obviously the Hokage, working behind a large desk, apparently on large stacks of paperwork. She bowed formally, as the old man gave her his complete attention. "Ah, you must be from the new caravan of merchants that just came into our village." Yuki nodded. "Well then, by the village of Konoha, I welcome yo-"

The old man stopped speaking, as a loud bang was heard from below, startling them both, as a pair of masked men jumped down from out of nowhere in front of the Hokage.

Then, as quickly as the sound came, it was gone. And there was silence. And more silence.

…

…

…

…Tap, tap, tap-

The guards tensed up, as a loud…or rather, soft footsteps were heard from the outside of the doorway, as the old man sighed tiredly and sat back in his chair. Nothing new here.

Yuki, while not knowing any forms of fighting or such, did know how to fight. Being what she was helped out greatly with her enhanced speed, strength, reflexes, and flexibility. She could handle herself.

They were all tense for the possible danger, as the Hokage laid quietly back and waited for the 'danger,' as the door opened slowly with a creek, alerting the guards and the ready-for-action vampire, as the door opened to reveal a smiling brightly blond. Yuki quirked an eyebrow at the oddly happy blond, as the guards loosened up a bit at his entrance.

"Hey jiji. Sorry for barging in, but," the blond pulled something out of his pocket and walked up to Yuki, glasses remaining on his head, "I believe you dropped your letter." The boy finished, as Yuki's eyes went wide and she took the letter quickly from the blond, only realizing a second later how rudely she did it. But Naruto just chuckled and looked back to the old man. "Sorry for barging in again, jiji, just felt the letter was important."

The Hokage nodded. "All is forgiven, but what did you do to my secretary down stairs?" The Hokage asked with a raised eyebrow, as Naruto smiled and walked to the exit of the office, opening it up slightly so he could get out.

Then, he turned his head slightly back to the Hokage. "Again, the usual," he said with a chuckle, "the chuunin tripped on her feet and fell to the ground when trying to stop me. Knocked herself out." Naruto said with a, while good-natured, grin, seemed to have a slight impish look to it. Like he was hiding something.

This didn't go unnoticed to the rest of the group. Even Yuki wasn't oblivious to such obvious things. But, the Hokage merely nodded. "Very well. Will you make sure she is alright, Naruto?" He asked, as Naruto nodded to his question, looking over to the windows of the office.

"Actually, jiji, I'll come back tomorrow. I've got some homework from Iruka-sensei I have to finish. I don't want...need to get lectured by Iruka for some forgotten homework a few days before the exam." The boy said with a smile, as he bowed to the Hokage quickly, not giving the Hokage a moment to speak, and walked out of the office, not giving Yuki a second glance before leaving. Although, due to his glasses, that's lenses were as black as coal, you really couldn't tell.

Yuki stared at the door after the boy left, feeling relieved that it wasn't anything dangerous, but also being very curious about this new boy, who one moment seemed completely calm and collected, the next, was smiling and happy joy-joy. Who was that kid?

Yuki snapped out of her daze of the strange…no, _mysterious _boy, seeing that she was still staring at the door, and looked quickly back to the Hokage. She walked up to his desk, placed the letter down, and bowed again. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, for accepting our party into your clan once more. But if you would excuse me, I have to return and prepare for the buyers." Yuki said hastily, as the old man nodded and took the letter, before smiling kindly to the girl.

"Well, on behalf of the village, I welcome you and your family and the rest of your group into Konoha."

"Thank you." Yuki said quickly, as she walked to the door and left the man's office. She walked down the stairs to the front of the desk, to see…the woman unconscious, holding a kunai in her hand.

Odd.

Yuki stared at the unusual sight for a second, before sniffing the air and catching the boy's scent. She didn't know why, but she felt…compelled to follow him. Why? She didn't know her reasons.

All she knew was that she was rushing outside the office and began walking in one particular direction down the road, not caring that her mere walk was pretty fast for anyone's eyes. She looked around closely for any orange wearing blond, skipping past villagers with grace, never slowing down a step as she passed the crowds of people.

But, in the end, after looking around at high speeds for five minutes, she came at a dead end. Literally. She walked down a dark alley, seemingly everything was normal, the scent was strong, but when she reached the end of the alleyway…she found a black, dark, brick wall.

She blinked a few times, her sense of smell telling her she was on the right track. Then, a chill ran down her back. A cold…yet, oddly, relaxing and tempting chill.

"Are you following me?" Came a quiet, but oddly relaxing voice from behind her, as she quickly turned around to see the boy, in all his orange clothing, in front of her, barely a foot away from her. He smiled. "I'll take that as a yes." He said with a chuckle, telling Yuki he wasn't going to attack…yet. "Why are you following me?" He asked. Yuki could tell he was in a good mood for some odd reason. As if catching her off guard was an accomplishment.

…Okay, to catch a vampire off-guard by a human was nearly unheard of, but still.

But, currently, she was trying to figure out how he had known she was coming in the first place.

But, that left the one last issue of how she was going to get out of _this_ issue. "I wanted to say thank you for finding my letter." She lied, but it was a good lie. The blond smiled a crooked smile.

"No problem. Glad I could help." The boy said with a smile, as he turned to walk away from the girl.

"Wait!" The girl yelled, as the boy stopped his leave of leaving the area and looked back to the, in his opinion, beautiful, if not a little odd, girl.

"Yes?" He asked, as the girl blushed slightly at her yell. Usually, her voice would be the voice that made males feel uncomfortable at a high level because of her beauty and the musical ring of her voice. But not him. Why was that?

"Um, I just wanted to know your name." She said, as her eyes looked the boy over from head to toe. Besides his fashion sense, and she couldn't believe what she was thinking, but this boy was…hot. And for a vampire to say that a human was hot was something to be thought of.

The boy looked the girl over himself, as he smiled a small smile and removed his glasses and looked the girl in the eye. "My name is Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. And your name is?" He asked, as he looked into the girls deep eyes. Yuki stared dumbly into the blonde's heavenly eyes, before shaking herself of her stupor and standing firmly to him.

"Yukaria. Crescent Yukaria. Friends call me Yuki. Me and my family are merchants who just came into town to trade." She said with a smile, trying to break whatever was happening to her as she looked into the blonde's eyes. Naruto smiled fondly to the girl, as he placed his sunglasses back on his head, releasing the girl from her torment.

"Well, Yukaria-san, may I be of any further assistance? It is getting rather dark out. I need to head home to…relax a bit." Naruto said with a calm smile, as Yuki just stared at him, trying, for some reason, to think of an excuse to get to stay with the boy a little longer. He was…a mystery. A mystery she wanted to find out about.

Then, a brilliant thought came to her mind, as she smiled and moved closer to the blond, who didn't seem to understand the gesture. Although, his face did go red slightly with the raven-haired girl narrowing the distance between them. "Well, I don't know this village to well. And as you said, it is getting dark out. Could you leave me back to my caravan?" She asked with cute, puppy-dog look, added in with her natural vampire good looks, meant one thing.

Impossible-to-say-no-to-face.

Naruto stuttered slightly from the girls puppy dog look, but managed to nod dumbly at her. Yuki smiled, as she grabbed his hand with her firm, yet silky smooth hand, and began to walk out of alleyway. "So, question, what is your favorite color?" She asked out of the blue, as they walked out of the alleyway, as Naruto quirked an eyebrow behind his glasses.

"What?"

"Your favorite color. What is it?" She asked again, as they began to move slowly through the village, side-by-side. It didn't escape her vision, however, that as they walked, glares were pointed at them.

Or, better put, at _him._ Why? "Why do you ask?"

She shrugged, not exactly sure why either. "I want to know you a little better." She said honestly enough, as Naruto smiled. No harm in it, he supposed.

"Orange. Kinda obvious, no?" He asked, as Yuki smiled and giggled slightly.

"True. I guess I should have seen that one coming. Alright-"

"Wait, can I ask a question?" Yuki smirked.

"Nope. Today's my day to ask questions. You can ask me questions tomorrow." She answered with, as Naruto sighed and put his hands into his pockets.

"Fine. Ask away." Naruto said in defeat, as the girl giggled and got into a thinking pose. This began the long sequence of questions that, while some were a little odd, did clear things up for Yuki. Some were simple. What was you favorite food, what was your hobbies, simple questions. Naruto answered them honestly; ramen, nightly runs, and other answers. He was unsure of why this girl was asking all these questions, but didn't bother to complain. He didn't have any friends. So, this was a nice alternative to the problem, if not a little unexpecting.

Some questions, however, weren't so easy. "Where do you live?" She asked out of the blue, as the two continued to walk through the village, Yuki leading him in different directions that, apparently, he didn't notice he was going in complete circles. He just answered the questions without thinking.

This one, however, caught him off guard. "Why do you ask?"

"Hey, my day to ask you questions." She quickly retorted back with a grin that would make most boys feel…hard. Naruto just sighed.

"I live in the apartment complexes north of here. The old man gives me an allowance to stay in them. It's not a great place, but it's not terrible either." He said with honesty, which just raised Yuki's eyebrows in question.

"What about your family?"

"Never had one. I'm an orphan." Naruto said like he didn't really care about whom his parents were. In truth, he didn't care. He'd been fine without them. What would change that now? He didn't care one bit. The closest thing he had to family was Cardinal. Kind of like that calm, collected, but fun to be with uncle that you respected. He was the closer thing he had to family. The Hokage was always trying to be there for him. But he wouldn't understand what he was. How could he? He was…too different. Everyone around him. This whole village in fact.

They were all different. No one…no one could understand him.

His power. His strength, his speed, his senses…

His gift.

His curse.

Ninja's may have got close to what he felt. But they wouldn't understand him.

Not in the least.

Yuki looked sadly up to the boy's face, his eyes covered by his glasses, making it, oddly, difficult for her to read his emotions. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." She said sadly, as Naruto smiled a crooked smile and looked up to the sky.

"Don't worry about it. I've been alone my whole life. It never bothered me a bit." Naruto said with a smile. Truth was, he did wonder who his parents were. But, like he said, he'd been alone his whole life. He grew up.

"It still must be sad to not know who they were." She said with a sad glint in her eye, as Naruto looked down to her sad eyes and smiled.

Yuki looked down to the ground, sad that she brought up a gloomy subject, and the boy seemed unfazed by the talk. Then, she felt a warm, smooth, but strong, hand grasp her chin and lift it up slowly so she was staring in surprise at his face. He smiled at her surprised face, as she just looked up to his handsome beyond belief face. "Don't worry about it. Yes. It is lonely now and then. Never getting praises, never being congratulated, never," he stopped, as he looked to the side of the road, noticing the glares he was receiving from the villagers, "being looked at as a normal person." Naruto finished, as Yuki turned her eyes to the villagers, who continued to glare at Naruto.

_They look at him…as if he were…_

She shook her head of these thoughts. It wasn't possible. Sure, he had a lot of traits that were similar. But he lacked key designs. Paleness, amazing beauty, even though he was…hot. It was getting easier to think that, oddly enough. He also lacked that…aura that vampires seemed to exert around him. Oddly enough (god, she was saying that a lot) he seemed unaffected by her, who was considered by many, beautiful and outstanding looks.

Weird…

"Well, alright." She said, as she turned back to the glasses wearing blond, as she grabbed his hand and motioned him forward, not even realizing they'd stopped right in the middle of the street to talk on the issue. "Okay another question-"

And it went on like that. Eventually, Naruto strayed his eyes from the amazing beautiful girl beside him, and looked up to the sun.

He stopped in the middle of the street, fright on his face.

Yuki stopped as well in mid sentence to look at her, she supposed, new friend. Fright was clearly visible on his usually happy and calm face. "Naruto, what's-"

"Uh, Yukaria-chan, look, I'm really sorry to have to do this, but I have to cut walking you back to your family short. I, uh, forgot to do something at home, so…I'll be seeing yeah!" Naruto yelled, running quickly the opposite direction of the road, Yuki knew, they'd passed three times already while she asked him questions that had popped into her mind.

"What? Naruto, wait-"

"I'm sorry Yukaria-chan. I'll make it to you later, I promise. But right now-" Naruto paused, as began to feel funny on the inside. A good feeling. But it had to happen NOW?! "I've got to go." And with that, Naruto ran quickly down the street and away from Yuki's vision in an instant, turning a corner just as the sun passed below the village's view.

Yuki watched the boy run off, wondering if something was wrong with the boy. If he was in trouble. She made a move to run, before noticing how late it was. Her eyes widened. Her father would be upset. Yuki sighed in annoyance on how her father would scold her, before looking around quickly.

Empty road. Yuki smiled brightly, before looking down the opposite end of the road, and…ran.

It almost seemed like she sliding on ice as she ran, as the dust lifted behind her. She loved the feeling of breaking free and running at her fastest, a smile across her face. _I can't wait to tell Jess and An-gel about this! They'll be so in to him!_

* * *

Yuki slowed down quickly when she reached the campsite in no time, before walking around a bit and trying to locate her family. She saw some of the family still camping out, relaxing a bit after a long day of selling merchandise and such. _Guess the family went hunting. _Yuki guessed, knowing food was plentiful wherever they went, as she noticed her two friends running up to her…and one not so welcomed visitor.

"Hey Jess, An-Gel…Jono-teme." Yuki spoke to her friends…and enemy, as they ran up beside her and smiled. Jess and An-Gel were practically dead on twins, wearing the same brown merchant clothing's, had the same green eyes, and were blessed, like all vampires, with stunning good looks. The only thing that set them apart was that Jess had sea blue hair, while An-Gel had fiery red hair.

Jono had short, smooth green hair on his head. Despite being a strange color, it worked for him. He was muscular, carried himself with pride, and thought of himself above others. His silvery eyes seemed to hold good nature, but Yuki knew better. He was a teme if there ever was one.

"Hey, Yuki-chan-"

"-what's up?" The twin's questioned with each other, Yuki smiled at their antics.

"You wouldn't believe my day."

This grabbed their attention. "Really?"

"What happened?" The twins questioned, as Jono walked forward to her.

"Yes, I am curious as well." Jono asked, as Yuki glared at him angrily.

"If you must know, I met someone." This lost his confident smile instantly, but caught the twin's attention like sharks to a dying whale.

"Really?"

"Who?"

Yuki would have liked to go all girly on the boy she met, feeling…oddly when she thought about him. But, Jono kinda killed the mood. "Follow me. We'll talk in," she glared at Jono, who returned his confident and cocky smile to his face, "private." She finished, as Jono chuckled and he patted his ear with one finger.

"I'll hear it all anyways."

"Just means-"

"-We'll have to-"

"-Go hunting-"

"-a little." The twins answered, as Yuki smiled to them. They didn't hate Jono as much as she did, but they knew, at least, that she hated him.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Yuki stated, as she motioned for the girls to follow her, leaving Jono, angry looking, behind.

"So, who did you meet?" Jess asked. The twins didn't always talk as one person.

"Yes, this sounds interesting." An-Gel agreed, as Yuki decided to get girly with them.

"The boy was so cute!" Yuki yelled, as they began to walk out towards the forest near the campsite.

"Oh, a human?" Jess asked surprisingly. But, she still wanted more details.

"Yeah. Who else is there here?"

"I don't know. But, tell us more!" Jess insisted. She knew there were only humans in the village. But…eh, might as well ask.

"Well, he was so kind. I met him when I delivered a letter to the Hokage for my father. His hair looked like it was soft as silk, his hands were so soft, but strong and comforting, and-"

"YOU HELD HANDS?!" The girls asked/yelled in unison, as Yuki blushed.

"Yes, a few times." She neglected to mention she only held his hands when she was pulling him forward a few times. But, details, who needs 'em? "But, anyway, he had the cutest whisker marks on his cheeks, his clothes…well, they were ugly as hell, I admit. But he was so caring and kind. I asked him a few questions. I got to know him better. And he was so…sad…"

"Sad?" An-Gel asked with concern on her face along with her sister.

"Yes. He's orphan. And the worst part is, he doesn't care about who his parents." Yuki said, as the girl's 'ahhed.' "It was so sad. He said he didn't care though. Saying he was better off on his own." Yuki said sadly. She knew how family, sometimes, could be a bother, but she loved them all. Naruto knew nothing of love of a mother, or the encouraging of a father. He was totally, and utterly, alone. She couldn't even imagine how that must have felt. "But, despite all the sadness and his amazing looks, the thing that really got me was his blue eyes. They were," Yuki dazed out, looking up to the night sky, "wow." She muttered, almost blissfully, as the twins got very interested in this kid.

"What's his name?" Jess asked, liking how this boy sounded, despite his sad past.

"Naruto Uzumaki." Yuki said with a smile, as the two girls smiled brightly.

"Well, Yuki, I have to ask something about your friend?" Jess said with a wicked, almost impish smile, as Yuki eyed her oddly.

"What?" Yuki asked cautiously, as she looked to An-Gel, who had a similar grin. _I have a bad feeling about this._

"Can you introduce me to him?" Jess asked innocently, even with her sinister look in her eyes. Yuki's eyes widened.

"WHAT?!"

"Me to!" An-Gel yelled, as Yuki glared at both of them and groaned.

"Whatever. Besides, I don't know where he lives." Yuki lied, recalling one of her questions she asked Naruto during their walk. But, she got her acting skill from her mother, so she pretended feel disappointed. "Come on you two. Let's go hunting. I'm starved."

"I was wondering when you'd suggest we eat." An-Gel stated, as Jess nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I'm starved! Should we meet up with our parents?" Jess asked, as Yuki thought about it a little. She wouldn't have minded a little more free time from her father. He kept pestering her on this or that. She needed a little break.

Then, her mind drawled back to the angry women who were with the Hokage and the attacks in her forest. Yuki smiled brightly. Not only did it sound like there was some good food there, but, apparently, someone else there as well. She wanted to do a little…meddling into the situation. "Actually, girls, I have another idea." This grabbed their attentions. "I heard of a forest, just north of here in fact, that's supposed to have some good catches. I thought we'd head up there." Yuki suggested, as the girls smiled at the idea of being alone with some good foods.

"What's the forest called?" An-Gel asked, curious about this forest they were heading to. Out of the two sisters, An-Gel was the more calculating, if not by just a small bit, while Jess was the 'funnier' one to be with, if not by just a small bit, as well.

Yuki smiled at her friends, using a spooky voice to spook them out a bit. "The Forest…of DEATH!!" She yelled, as the girls laughed at her antics.

"Sounds cool."

"Sure, why not."

Yuki smiled brightly to her friends, as she turned to the north of the campsite. "Great. Follow me!" Yuki ordered, as she immediately began to run northward from her camp, followed quickly behind by her two friends…and one eavesdropping clan member boy, hiding himself to the girl's as he ran behind them and listened to their conversations.

It was going to be a wild night.

For the four of them weren't the only vampire's hunting in that forest that night.

* * *

**Alright, this may seem confusing a bit, but hopefully, I can answer all your questions. Just ask and I will answer. But, just so you know, I like a little mystery in my stories, so don't think you'll get _all_ the answers. Doesn't make a good story if you know what will happen.**

**Next Chapter: Dawn of Truths.**


	7. The Vampire and the Strawberry

**Recently, there have been a lot of Rosario crossovers, thanks to the ****lord of the land of fire.**** And I thought 'got to keep up with the competition!'**

**I have practically seen them all around. Except one crossover.**

**A Bleach one.**

**So, being the creative…and bored, person I am, I thought it over, and I think I could make it work. It would be hard, but perseverance will get me through if I decided to make it my first Bleach fic.**

**I must admit, making Ichigo's personality was difficult, or to make him react to the way he would in the situations at the school as they would come. I hope I got him right. Had to read the manga a bit just to get a slightly better idea, though.**

**So, without further a do, here it is.**

**P.S. Idea was given to me, as well as helped made, by lord of the land of fire. I thank him for his assistance.**

**P.S.S. If I get crap on that this ain't no Naruto fic, I'll just ignore it. Still a review, after all. **

* * *

**The Vampire and the Strawberry** (I have terrible names for titles)

* * *

My name is Kurosaki Ichigo. I'm fifteen years old, so I'm a high school student. Or at least, I will be. Summer coming to an end, and all. I am just your average student/kid living in my hometown of Kurakura town.

Now, even though I say my life is normal…it isn't. For one, I get into numerous fights around town. Usually coming on top without a scratch, I might add. I don't mean to get into fights. Often times, the assholes start it. But, I guess my 'gravity defying,' as my sister calls it, orange hair just irritates the hell out of them.

Eh, again, it's no problem. After all, I still kick their asses to the pavement. Often times, with ease.

I would like to say that _that_ was the only weird thing that occurs in my life.

It isn't, unfortunately.

My father, Kami smite him, frequently starts an all out brawl whenever he can.

I open a door-BAMM!! He's there, leg flying at my face with a brutal kick.

But, besides my 'abusive' father, I have two sisters. Twins, even. Although, there personalities and looks are complete opposites that, sometimes, it scares me.

But, I'm getting off subject. Let's see…weird…weird…oh yeah, and for as long as I can remember, I've been able to see the souls of the dearly departed.

…Yeah, you're probably thinking I'm crazy right about now. Who knows, maybe I am.

Ghosts, spirits, apparitions, whatever you call them. I don't know if it's because my father own a neighbored doctor facility, saving people's lives.

It would be my best guess that that would be the reason for my 'gift,' I suppose.

At first, they didn't bother me or talk to me. Hell, I didn't even realize that they _were_ ghosts. I couldn't tell the difference then. It was shortly after my mother passed that I think they began to notice me.

And, when they found out, they wouldn't leave me alone.

I yelled at the more annoying souls, those who wanted me to do things for them; I gave them the 'one-fingered salute' and some colorful words.

Other, less annoying spirits, I could tolerate, or even enjoy talking too occasionally. They ask little to nothing of me, and make pleasurable company when I'm bored. But, lately, more and more ghosts have been coming. I don't know why exactly, but it's annoying, to say the least.

But, before I give you my whole life's story, I think I'll start the story now.

It all started when my father was offered a flyer from one of his drinking buddies to come to this school…

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Ichigo Kurosaki sat all alone on the bus, except for the driver. He looked out the window at the sunlight and the beautiful countryside. He wouldn't see this again for a few years. He stared relaxingly, his permanent scowl on his face, as he thought back to the recent conversation he had with his father over the whole 'Youkai Academy.'

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Two Weeks Ago…**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M LEAVING?!" Yelled a rather furious Ichigo, as he threw a nearby table at his father, who took the hit and fell to the ground with a groan. Ichigo lifted said man, Isshin Kurosaki, up into the air by his shirt collar, as blood fell casually from the groaning man's nose. "And you didn't bother to ask me if this was alright, because?!"

Isshin shook his head from the blunt of the blow, looking at his son and…

…kicked him in the gut, as he dropped to the ground from the hold of his son before quickly grabbing his on-the-ground son in a neck hold. "Ichigo, it's for your own good! You need to stop fighting with the other kids!!" The man yelled, as Ichigo then thrusted his elbow into the man's stomach, causing said man to recoil in pain. Ichigo then placed a well placed kick to the man's face, sending him backwards.

"SAYS YOU!! I mean, come on!" He lifted up a pamphlet from the recently turned table, and shook it in front of the man. "You just up and threw me into this school without a moments thought without even telling me! For Kami's sake, you got it from a drinking buddy!!"

"He was a priest." This earned him a kick to the face, again.

"That's supposed to make it any better?! I mean, for all you know, this could be a school for future CULTISTS OR SOMETHING!! You were insane to sign me up, you bastard!!" He said, continuing to kick the man in the face repeatedly. Then, the man caught his foot, twisted it, causing Ichigo to fall on his stomach roughly, before pinning him roughly to the wooden floor.

"Ichigo, calm down," Ichigo's eyes widened a bit from his struggling position. His father's voice had become somewhat…firmer then it usually was just then, "calm down. Listen, I have no choice. You are constantly getting into fights here and sending kids to hospitals! It doesn't make your future any brighter if you have a reputation for causing violence! I'm trying to clear your bad slate! Can't you at least give it a shot?!"

"I don't give a damn! I'm not going!!" He rebelled, as his father made no noise for a moment, before sighing, and standing up from Ichigo, who blinked in confusion.

"Ichigo," he said, his voice an uncommon sound of tiredness and weariness. He sounded…like a sad father, almost. So unlike his usual child like demeanor, "if you truly don't want to go…fine then. But…I will ask to, at least, consider it. Please." Ichigo's eyes widened again. 'Please' wasn't something his father _ever_ said to him. "And if you don't like it…you can come home. I won't annoy you about it. I just…want you to at least give it a try."

Ichigo stood up slowly, looking up to the man with his usual passive face. Isshin's face was, uncommonly, soft. Ichigo closed his eyes in thought for a moment, opening them to look down at the pamphlet in his hands, before sighing deeply and scratching the back of his head.

"Fine, whatever." He said glumly, as he turned around from his father to head to his room. "But if I don't like it, I'm out of there. Got it?!" He yelled, as the faint footsteps of him going to his room were heard before the slamming of the door was heard, as well.

Isshin sighed, as he looked back to the last two standing chairs of the recently thrown table, his two daughters looking on without emotion. "Way to go, daddy," His dark-haired daughter, Karin, began sarcastically, "you handled it, well." His second daughter, Yuzu, just nodded, a small amount of sadness in her eyes.

He just sighed sadly before going to work on picking up the thrown table and chairs.

Karin was, as usual, right.

That could have gone a _lot_ better.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"You the student enrolling at Youkai academy?"

The bus driver's words snapped Ichigo back to the present. "Uh, yeah I am."

The bus entered into a long dark tunnel. "I should warn you," the driver said, his voice growing an odd edge to it as he spoke, "Youkai academy is a veeeeerrry horrifying place." The driver looked over his shoulder at him; his eyes seemed to be glowing.

Ichigo couldn't help but smirk. This going to the guy who could see ghosts. "I've seen scarier." His friend he recently said goodbye to, Sado Yasutora, or 'Chad,' was an example. Hell, Keigo Asano, that creepy kid who always yelled in class, got on his nerves, as well. That sent a chill up his back at the thought of the hyperactive brown haired kid, as he saw a light coming up down the tunnel.

Whether it was sixth sense shit or…no, wait, he could see ghosts…

Whether it was _seventh_ sense shit or something in relation, he felt that his time at the academy would be, if nothing else, interesting.

The bus came to a clean stop just outside of the tunnel, as the bus dropped him off in front of a scarecrow with a pumpkin head. In the distance a mile or two away he saw the outline of a building he assumed had to be the school.

Ichigo blinked in uncertainty at his surroundings as he heaved his luggage backpack onto his shoulder from the bus.

There was grim sky and a scraggly forest in the view. Next to him was a scarecrow-like sign which had the name 'Youkai Academy' written on it in Japanese. The nearby forest was leafless and every tree looked dead. Behind the young man was a cliff which dropped into the ocean. Numerous animals, snakes, spiders, and other such things littered around the forests, almost ominously.

"Where the hell did you sent me?" He asked out loud, thinking of his father at the moment in anger. The bus road off down the road and into the tunnel once more, as Ichigo just sighed, looking down the road to the academy, and began to walk down in an almost moping/bad mood kind of way.

Traveling through the landscape was a little freaky, seeing as it had no rails to hold onto in the least. The place had a weird aura of fear around it that was sort of familiar to the cold aura of a ghost. This, oddly, felt comforting to Ichigo. _Just like home…with hundreds of tombstones, dead trees, and other such things you'd find from a cheesy horror flick or stupid manga._ He thought to himself, his mood slightly lightening as he walked.

He found it rather odd to see all the tombstones, just striking it up as something the students here liked.

But something else hit him as he looked at them. They were real, no denying the oddness nor the look of the old RIP stones, but something…else was different about them.

No ghosts. Not one.

He didn't understand it right now, not because he had something to do, but by the sound of something…rubber running against the ground and grass behind him.

"Look out!"

Ichigo blinked, as he turned around himself to see a…

_Whoa._ Was all he could think in surprise, looking at a…a _beautiful_ girl staring at him, before she plowed into him with her out of control bike.

The both went tumbling over in a pile, Ichigo feeling the roughness of the gravel road hitting his skin and school uniform that, oddly enough, was almost exactly similar to his old school uniform. Except for a green coat instead of mild blue. All the while, wondering if anyone caught the license on that bike.

They stumbled for a second, before Ichigo caught himself from the tumbling, thus stopping the girl as well, as he released a held breath from the crash…before his eyes widened at the predicament before him.

Ichigo found himself lying face to face on top of the most…well…

Note, this was coming from the supposed 'bad boy' of his old school, who rarely saw anyone worthwhile to talk to at all besides his close friends. The guy who honestly saw no interest in anyone, really, at his school.

But, as he laid over this…girl…he couldn't help but mutter a word he never, as far as he could remember, used in his life.

The girl below him…was…_beautiful_. She had long pink hair and the most amazing green eyes, and she was dressed in the same green school uniform he had. He also slowly realized he could feel her breasts pressing up against his chest.

He blushed a rather heavy shade of red at the…contact.

"Um, uh, sorry!" He yelled, as he quickly sat up and got off of her. "I didn't mean to…uh…"

The girl sat up and gave him a shy and embarrassed smile. "No, I am the one who should apologize. I was feeling a little weak because of my anemia." She looked at him a little startled. "Oh you're bleeding."

Ichigo blinked uncertainly, as he reached up to where he felt a small bit of pain on his head and, sure enough, a small dribble of blood was coming from his forehead. It wasn't so bad. He'd got hit harder, and drew much more blood, then this small wound held. "Eh, don't worry about it. Its not…so…"

He trailed off, as, to his surprise; the girl suddenly leaned forward, putting her face only inches from his. Ichigo looked beat red with uncertainty on what to do, as he heard breath in deeply. "Uhm, uh, are you, okay?" He asked uncertainly, his face feeling like he was in a sauna or something in relation.

"Your scent," as she spoke he could feel her hot breath against his skin, as he felt his skin want to shiver at the feeling, "It's so, so…nice." She cooed, as the orange-haired teen blushed even more at her words.

"Uhhhh…thanks?" Ichigo said, blinking with uncertainty on what to do. The girl leaned in closer. "Hey-"

"I'm sorry," the girl sighed softly, interrupting him before he could rant off, "But…I'm…a vampire." She then moved in quickly and bit into his exposed neck, puncturing the skin and drawing out blood.

"What the-?!" He yelled, as his body froze up, unused to the feeling of the bite on his neck. He just laid there, uncertain of what to do, as he looked at the girl, now on top of him, grow slightly red in the face.

After a moment she released him. He put a hand to his neck. There was a slight mark there, a bit like a hickey, but no wound. What had just happened here?

The girl meanwhile was blushing and seemed almost…ecstatic. "Oh! Thank you soooo much! Your blood is absolutely delicious!"

He blinked at her, his hand over the part of his neck she…_bit him_ at. "Uh…what just happened there? Did you just…drink my blood?"

"I'm sorry!" the girl blushed profusely. "It's just your blood smelled so nice and I couldn't help myself! I really am sorry!" Ichigo studied her features of embarrassment, before something hit him on what she said.

"Wait…a vampire?" He said, mostly to himself, as the girl nodded before looking kind of worriedly at him.

"Do… do you not like vampires?" She asked, as Ichigo blinked and, to be honest, shook his head. He didn't fear them. Hell, he didn't know they existed. But…who was he to deny their existence? Even though this girl was a little odd, it didn't mean she was crazy. Trust Ichigo when he says he knows crazies.

"Uh, no. To be honest, I thought they were just myths." He couldn't help but think that this was coming from the guy who saw dead people.

The girl's mood lightened considerably at that tad bit of info. "Oh, no, we are very real." She said simply, as Ichigo just blinked on how she said it so calmly, as if she was talking about the weather, before shaking his head and standing up, offering the…_cute_ pink haired girl a hand.

Again with the odd words. "Yeah, alright." He said in his usual gruff tone, as the girl took his hand and stood up. "By the way, ya got a name?"

With a pleased smile, the girl introduced herself. "Yes. My name is Moka. Akashiya Moka."

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Are you a new student?"

Ichigo nodded. "Doesn't the outfit say it all?" To anyone else, this may have been seen as an insult. But the girl just giggled.

"That's wonderful! I was really worried because I was all alone, but now I'll have someone to do things with!"

He looked at her in surprise. "I don't think a pretty girl like you will have to worry about being alone." He regretted those words instantly, as the girl turned crimson and looked away. Was she upset? Tatsuki, he recalled, got this way a lot with him when he angered her. "Anyway Moka, we should probably head over. Don't want get in trouble on our first day."

She shyly looked back over to him and nodded.

As the two of them began walking towards the academy, Ichigo thought that how bad could this place be if a…_girl_ like her was coming here to stay.

He should have known better.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Ichigo was unused to the…talking that followed him after he left the 'crash site' with Moka. It wasn't unpleasant. Not at all. Just…unusual.

For one, he had this…_girl_, he still had trouble using those…_words…_

Anyway, having Moka, this…_cute_ girl around wasn't half bad, he admitted. But he was unused to the whole 'I want to talk to you' thing. Most people…well, _cowered_ from him. It was a change, no doubt. A change that he was, oddly, okay with.

Again and again, as they walked, they would pass a number of tombstones. But no ghosts. That was…odd. He didn't understand it. Usually, graveyards were the usual 'ghost sights' for the souls. But not a peep nor a pop of noise. But the feeling of the dead still echoed in this place.

It was…different…

As they got closer the appearance of the academy itself began to bother him. The academy was a single large building located on a high cliff. It reminded Ichigo of nothing so much as a haunted mansion in some old black and white horror movie. He imagined that some old rich guy must have donated the building and lands to the school. No way would someone actually design a high school to look like this.

As he and Moka approached the main entrance they joined a stream of other new students, all of them wearing the same uniform and looking about as if a bit lost. Seeing the other students actually put his mind at ease a bit. He'd started wondering if somehow he and Moka had gotten completely lost and were approaching someone's weird idea of a manor.

As he and Moka were herded towards the auditorium for the entrance ceremony the two of them got separated. She looked back at him and waved shouting she would find him afterwards. He waved back, not even giving the smallest smile to the always happy girl, as he watched her get swallowed up by the crowd. _Well that's it. I'll probably never see her again, or if I do she'll have a dozen guys around her. A cute girl like that isn't going to have any trouble making friends._

He couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of several guys surrounding the girl like a bunch of idiots.

It was, again, like some stupid manga where a girl would get all the attention from the boys, as they crowded her like a fan club. But, oddly, he knew it would happen.

He shook his head, as he found a seat in the auditorium, sat down, and fell asleep through the long and boring introduction speech.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Following said speech, Ichigo had escaped to try and find his homeroom. The inside of the academy was nothing like the inside, shaping itself just like any other school would, with classrooms, wooden desks, the works.

It took little effort to find his classroom, luckily, as he sat down soundlessly towards the middle of the class and relaxed for everyone to get in.

On the large blackboard the teacher had scrawled a huge, 'welcome.' All around him the other new students were talking excitedly. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. However, against his dad's wanting…his scowl and quiet demeanor as he relaxed on the desk, already was making him receive the whispers of 'rogue' something he didn't quiet catch after that, and a 'troublemaker' from others.

He opened a sleeping eye, as he heard things quiet down slightly, as a young blonde woman with glasses and a weird hair style; two tufts of hair were sticking out almost like a pair of furry ears, walked into the class. She smiled at them, as Ichigo's very first impression was that she seemed like a typical ditzy blonde teacher.

Once the class had quieted down she introduced herself. "Hello everyone and welcome to Youkai academy! I am your home room teacher Shizuka Nekonome. I think you all already know this, but this is a school built for the sake of monsters to attend!"

And with that, a boring 'welcome to the school' speech became something entirely else. _Wait…come again? _Ichigo stirred upward, hoping he heard…wrong.

He glanced around the room to see everyone else take it in stride. _Is it me or is everyone in here nuts?_

Meanwhile, his teacher pressed on. "Now as you all know the earth has already come under the control of the humans! In order for us monsters to continue to survive, we have no choice but to continue to peacefully coexist with the humans. At this academy, you will be studying, 'How to coexist with humans!'"

Again, Ichigo carefully glanced around the room to see the reaction of the other students. Some of them were nodding; most were just listening with varying degrees of attention. None of them were acting as though their teacher had gone insane. They were acting as though what she was saying was not unexpected. _Damn, this is a school for future cultists!_

"So for that reason," she continued. "As a school rule you will all live your lives at this academy in human form! Do you understand? It's a matter of being able to disguise yourself well as a human! This is the foundation of coexistence. You are never to allow any of your fellow students to know your 'true form' understand?!"

"Hey teacher," a student across from him called out, "would it not be better for us to eat up those puny humans? And in the case of beautiful girls, better to molest them?" Ichigo looked behind himself to see a rather muscular looking student, who was grinning viciously at his thoughts. _Sick_. Ichigo thought with a slight twitch of his eye, before he sighed and looked back to the front.

"Oh," his teacher spoke. "Incidentally, here at Youkai academy, the teachers and students are all monsters; there are no genuine humans here! Since this academy is within a secret sacred world! To those humans who come to know of our existence we will bring them **death**… or something."

Despite the sudden revelation that he was surrounded by monsters and would be killed if the truth about him was found out, Ichigo remained calm. His thoughts were another story; however, let's just say they had some…_colorful_ words that he would be saving for his stupid-ass father. He'd pay deeply.

Ichigo shook his head in slight anger, before he heard the sound of the classroom open and a familiar voice speaking out. "Excuse me," a girl's voice called from the class room door, "after the entrance ceremony I kind of got lost in the school, sorry I'm late."

Nekonome looked over to the girl and smiled. "Oh, that's fine, just take a seat."

"Okay." Moka Akashiya stepped into the room. Immediately the boys, and even some of the girls, were star struck.

"Who is she?"

"She's so hot!"

"How cute!"

"I'm so glad she's in my class!" Were among the many comments to suddenly be shouted out to her. One of the students, the one who had commented earlier about eating the humans and molesting their woman didn't bother to say anything. He just eyed her hungrily.

Taken aback by all this sudden attention Moka stood there a moment and looked over the classroom. Her eyes suddenly spotted a familiar face that was shaking side-to-side in stress. "Ichigo-kun!" She shouted happily. "We're in the same class?!" She ran over and gave him a huge hug, startling the orange-haired teen that, moments ago, was stressed and hadn't even seen her come in.

It was a bizarre moment for him. In a room full of monsters, trapped in a life and death situation he was being hugged by the most…_beautiful _girl he'd ever met. And actually feeling pretty happy about it.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Being the first day there were no official classes. They'd only been required to attend the entrance ceremony and meet with their homeroom teacher. Once Nekonome-sensei dismissed them they were free to explore the academy grounds. Before any of the other boys in class could even approach her Moka grabbed a hold of his arm and swiftly led him out into the hallway.

"Let's go explore!" She'd said excitedly, as Ichigo only smiled and nod.

Even given the situation he just couldn't help but enjoy being with this girl. Her joy and eagerness were just contagious and Ichigo, actually and rather oddly, found himself sharing in them. He, however, didn't mind, or have a deep care for, the jealous looks all the guys were sending his direction. Having a beautiful woman on his arm was a new experience for him and a fun one.

Huh, he thought that without difficulty. He was getting better.

Then as they rounded one of the corners a tall blonde student with messy hair stepped straight into their path. Ichigo recognized him as the one with the animal-like attitude towards humans. "Hmm, such a pretty one," he said. "You are called Akashiya Moka are you not? I am your classmate Komiya Saizou!" He then reached out and grabbed Ichigo roughly by the collar of his jacket, heaving him forward, lifting him into the air off his feet and looked him in the eye, as Ichigo glared, almost demonically, back at him.

_Great, I'm here for barely a few hours, and I'm already starting a fight. Way to go on the school choosing, dad._ He thought angrily, as the boy continued to smile at the fearless boy before him. "By the way, why is a beautiful lady like her, doing with an orange-haired _nobody _like you?"

Ichigo, predictably, smirked. "Maybe she likes the hair." Not the best comeback, but honestly, he wasn't trying at the moment. The thought of monsters swarming him was kind of dampening his thought process.

Ichigo made a simple movement to get his attacker off of him. Rather simple really. He lifted his right arm back slightly, curved it, and lifted it up quickly upward so it would appear in front of his face.

However, Saizou's face was in the way. Shame, but it worked to get the boy off of him, as the boy stumbled back from blow, moving his jaw around to get it comfortable, a small bit of blood coming from his mouth. Ichigo landed softly to the ground, surprising everyone on how he got out of the hold of the 'bully,' so easily.

_Where'd they come from? _Ichigo asked himself, as all around them a small crowd gathered eager to watch a fight. _Well, I guess that, at least, is universal in every school, human or monster. _Ichigo caught a few snatches of what they were saying, things like, 'rogue monster' and 'forced to attend.' He also noted that a few of them were commenting on the speed and strength from the boy in his human form.

Saizou reached up to touch his chin and jaw where he was hit, moving it around as a nasty crack resounded from it. He was surprised by the trickle of blood coming from his mouth._ Stupid, useless, weak form. _He looked angrily at the boy who was standing between him and what he wanted. "Lucky shot punk."

"Luck had nothing to do with it, you ugly ass bastard."

Saizou glared at him, before smirking. "I'm feeling generous, so get out of here while you still can." He shifted his attention to Moka who was standing just behind Ichigo. "Wouldn't someone like me be far superior to this weakling? Why don't we go off somewhere just the two of us and have some fun?"

Her response was to grab a hold of Ichigo's arm and begin leading him back the way they'd come. Actually, it was more like _dragging_ him away. "I'm sorry! I'm having fun with Ichigo now!"

Saizou stood there and watched the two of them runaway. "Run if you wish, I never let anything I want get away from me." _As for you, punk. You'll be paying for the blood you drew. Yes. You'll be paying it in large._

**XXXXXXXXXX**

"Woo! That was scary!" Moka sighed. She turned to her friend who was standing calmly beside her, rubbing his aching arm from her 'dragging'. "Weren't you scared at all?"

"Nah," Ichigo replied, grinning slightly to her. "Believe it or not, there are definitely scarier things than him. Besides, I REALLY don't like idiots who think they should own everything because their taller and stronger then others. They make me sick." Memories of his fights on certain circumstances went through his mind on people who acted like that at school and how he...solved that problem.

Fun times. Fun times…

"Thank you," Moka said softly.

Ichigo blinked. "Huh? For what?"

"For standing up for me," she said. "That was the first time anyone has ever fought for me."

He could feel his own face warming up a bit, as he looked away and scratched his chin uncertainly. "Well, its not like I'll leave someone like you with someone like him. Who would I be if I did that." He smiled. Actually smiled. Not a small smile or anything. But a _real_ smile. "I would do anything for my friends." He didn't mean anything, really, by it, but Moka blushed slightly beside him.

"I'm…I'm your friend?" She asked quietly, as Ichigo blinked uncertainly, before smiling again.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" He said, as the girl smiled, again, brightly. Damn, it was contagious, as Ichigo felt himself smiling along with her just as big.

"Still, I don't want my only friend to get in trouble because of me." Ichigo quirked an eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean your only friend?" Ichigo asked in confusion. "I would have figured a girl like you would have made a whole mob of friends by now."

Moka giggled and stepped forward to stand in front of Ben. She had a shy blush on her cheeks and she averted her gaze. "Well…I'm not too good at making friends," she admitted, before a small smile creped on her face, "and besides…"

"Hmm? Besides what?" She smiled brightly to him.

"Well, you were my first time."

Ichigo arched an eyebrow at the…odd way of putting it. "Come again?"

"You're the first person whose body I have ever fed from. You're my first and I will never forget that feeling. You should be proud, Ichigo, you have amazing blood. Way better than any of the blood I've had before from blood transfusion packs."

"So…I'm basically a…juice box?" She shook her head frantically, waving her hands in a defensive motion.

"No, no. I mean, I just…uh…" She scrambled to find the right words for how to explain what she thought of his blood, as Ichigo just shook his head and smiled.

"Hey, its no big. Don't worry. I'll just take it as a compliment, alright?" He said, as Moka's mood almost instantly lightened up at his words.

"Okay!" She yelled, as she quickly grabbed his arm and began to pull him, once more, away. "Anyway, let's go explore the rest of the campus." And with that, another 'dragging,' as Ichigo called it, occurred. _Damn, she is strong!_

And that was what they did. They spent the rest of the day exploring their new home for the next three years. There were no further incidents. The more time he spent with her the more he really enjoyed her company. He was slowly discovering just how happy being with Moka made him, which was, like the feeling of dead people all around him, was awkward for him.

But, like everyday in the world, days come to an end, and night brews over for the next day to come. And so, they began to walk up back to their dorm areas for the night.

And then, Moka asked the one question Ichigo was hoping to never be asked. "Say, Ichigo, just what sort of monster are you?" She asked innocently, as Ichigo's eyes widened slightly, but he kept stride still.

"Uhm, why do you wanna know?" He asked carefully. This was a life or death question, anyway.

Moka seemed to mentally hit herself for the question. "Oh, never mind. It's against the school rules for you to tell me and I don't want you to get into trouble with anyone."

"That's right," Ichigo said quickly, glad he wasn't going to have to move any further with this, "we're supposed to stay in human form for the entire time we're here." He said, again, quickly, before a question popped into his head. "Speaking of which, you really don't remind me of the vampires I've read about. Looking at you all I can see is a beautiful girl." He cringed, mentally, at the words that flew from his mouth. Again, awkward word use.

Moka, in return, smiled and blushed a bit. "Well thank you. Actually it's because of this," She touched the rosary that rested on her chest, "we're I to take this off, I would revert to my true form. A _very_ scary vampire. Rosaries have the effect of sealing off a vampire's power. Since my original form was hated and caused conflict when other monsters challenged her…or, rather me, I put this rosary on myself so I'd keep my vampires powers sealed. To keep people safe."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe that someone as kind as you could be scary." Ichigo joked, as the girl just giggled along side him. But he couldn't help but wonder how people could hate someone like Moka. Caring, sweet, fun to be around. He couldn't think of anyone back home like her. _One of a kind_. He smirked aloud, as they continued down the paths to the dorms.

"So," she began, as Ichigo realized she was gonna ask yet _another_ question about himself, "Where'd you go to school at? A monster school or…" she seemed to stain on the last name.

"A human school?" He finished, as Moka nodded but her face seemed to quench together in slight…anger. That was…different. "Yeah, I went to a human school in my hometown of Kurakura town."

"Oh. Well, I just think humans are the worst." Moka scoffed, although, Ichigo couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow on how she said it with such…venom. "All through middle school everyone ignored me. They made fun of me and told me monsters and stuff didn't exist. Eventually I thought it would be better if I really didn't exist. I just hate humans!" Ichigo shoulders slumped slightly at her yell.

"Hey, hold on there. Some humans may be jerks but we…uh, _they _aren't all bad. Some of them I even became friends with." He tried to make humans seem nicer to the girl before him, but it seemed to not change her mind for the better.

"I don't know, Ichigo." Her eyes mystified in thought. "But…I hate them, Ichigo…I hate them all." She seemed to sadden at her memories, as Ichigo looked sadly at her before looking away towards the dead forests.

"You…you _hate_ humans?"

She nodded fiercely. "Yes, I do. I hate them for making me feel like I was some sort of freak just because of who I was. But you understand that, don't you, Ichigo?" She reached out and took a hold of one of his hands, as he looked at her in surprise, sadness, and worry. "But, now that I met you, I don't feel so sad, because now I finally have a friend! I don't feel lonely anymore, because of you, Ichigo!" She seemed so…ecstatic. Happy. It just made Ichigo feel worse.

_I hope this doesn't kill me. _He thought with a slight twitch of the eye, as he looked into her eyes. His own eyes misty with wonder on what would happen next. "Moka," he began, pulling his hand away from her own, as she gave him a worried look in return, "would you still feel that way if I were a…_human_?" He tried to give off no clues, but he could already tell, by her looks, she was getting suspicious.

"What do you mean? You're not a human." She said in disbelief, as Ichigo took a deep breath, held the breath, and dived off the skyscraper.

"I am." He said silently, yet carefully, noticing the girl's eyes widened rather quickly at those two words. "I am human. I was sent here by my idiot father after he got a pamphlet for this school from a drinking buddy of his. I was sent here by accident." He paused, wondering what else to say, as Moka began trembling in disbelief.

"No," she stepped back from Ichigo, confusion and other emotions in her eyes, bubbling outward, "You can't be!"

He saw the look in her eyes, what she thought of him was clear. "So I guess you hate me them, huh?" He wondered why it was such a big deal to him. People admitted they hated him all the time. Nothing new. Except…oddly…he was saddened by her response to him…more then any other thing had made him before.

…Well…except his mother, at least. That hurt beyond comparison. "Ichigo…I…"

"Now what do we have here? A lover's quarrel?" Saizou approached them with a grin going from ear to ear, coming out of the forest eerily.

Instinctively, and almost protective like, Ichigo moved quickly to put himself between Saizou and the surprised still Moka. "What the hell do you want?" Ichigo asked with a gruff tone. It was fearsome, oddly, to most people back in his town. It didn't make Saizou cower, but it did make the boy glare at the two fiercely before turning to Moka, his eyes running up and down her body. He smiled lecherously, before looking back towards Ichigo, smile gone quickly.

"I'm taking her right now, if you want to live get out of here." His eyes looked hungrily back at her. "You are far more beautiful than any of those puny humans I molested. I want you Akashiya Moka!"

"No!" She shouted at him. "I am very sorry but whatever you want I don't want you!" Ichigo, despite the moment, couldn't help but sweat drop at how naive the girl was at the moment.

He laughed as his body began to shake. "I wasn't giving you a choice; I like it best when the girl tries to fight anyway." His school uniform shredded as his body grew and expanded. "Oh, I can't stop myself when I feel like this. I just can't stay in human form anymore."

As Ichigo watched, Saizou grew eight feet with a body of mass and muscles. Hell, he'd put Chad to shame. "Damn it! What the hell?!"

"Ichigo, this is his true form!" Moka said desperately, Ichigo instinctively getting closer up to her to protect her. "When a monster is in human form he can access only a fraction of his power. But like this Saizou will be able to draw on all his strength. Please run Ichigo! I don't want you to be hurt!"

Ichigo looked at his opponent, who was smiling evilly back at him, before smirking and shaking his head. "Hell no, Moka. I told you, I would do anything for my friends, even put my life on the line for them." His mind flashed to one of his first days with his friend, Chad, who had taken blow after blow from bullies who caught him once. He took the pain so Ichigo wouldn't have to endure so much. If the guys were actually set on killing them, they could have.

He turned his head to look back at her worried face, smiling confidently. "Just stay calm, Moka, and I'll protect you. I'll be alright, I promise." He continued to smile pleasantly to her, as she looked back to him sadly.

"Ichigo…"

"I don't care if you're a vampire, a witch, or something god like. I swear," He turned back to the Goliath of a monster, his eyes almost glowing with anticipation and determination, "I won't let this guy touch you!" He threw himself at the transformed Saizou, dashing as fast as he could before jumping quickly into the air, and, doing his father's classic move, sent a flying kick to his chest. Would have been his head, but it was just so high up.

Keeping at it, he jumped down and, with as much strength as he could muster, punched him in the gut.

He thought he may have done some damage, as the boy didn't say a word, before seeing that the skin he hit _barely_ moved inward from the hit. Saizou laughed heartedly at the stunned boy. "Tickles." He then slammed Ichigo with the back of his hand and sent him flying through the air before crashing into a tree, branches falling around as he fell to the ground.

Ichigo groaned from the pain of the attack, before seeing a rather thick branch next to him among the other, smaller ones. He scowled, as he grabbed the thick branch quickly and began to run at the monster, both hands held strongly onto the sword, as he jumped as high as he could and swung horizontally at the boy's face, the wood splattering from the hit.

Ichigo fell to the ground in front of Saizou, as he rubbed his chin from the blow and growled at the surprised boy. "What are you thinking fighting with _weapons _like some pathetic human?! Show me your true form so I can know what kind of weak monster I'm ripping apart." He yelled, as he gave the boy a soccer ball kick backwards, the boy skidding on the ground, screaming in pain of the attack, before slowing skidding to a stop before the watching Moka, who sat down quickly beside the unmoving Ichigo.

He was groaning and spitting out blood. She quickly knelt down and placed his head in her lap. "Why?" She could feel her tears begin to run down her cheek. "Why are you doing this for me?"

Despite the pain he still smiled for her. "I already told you…I'll protect you…no matter…what." He coughed up a little blood, before slowly opening his eyes to the beautiful green eyes of the girl before him, unfazed that he was laying his head on her lap. "Even though…you don't like me…because I'm human…" he coughed again, "I'll still…protect you."

"I like you, Ichigo-kun." She whispered to his in pain form, as she ran a hand through his orange, spiky hair. "When I was all alone all I ever wanted was a friend, whether he was human or monster never mattered. I like you, Ichigo. I really do!"

He smiled. "Good to hear, Moka. That…means a lot to me." Despite the pain in his voice, he could, honestly, tell he was being honest. It…_did_ mean a lot to him.

"Oh how sweet!" Saizou mocked as he approached the two of them. "Say goodbye to your boyfriend before I tear him limb from limb. Then I'll show you a real good time."

He didn't think he could even stand, but he wanted to keep Moka safe. _I couldn't keep my mother safe,_ this thought suddenly appeared in his mind, as he groaned and tried to stand up, _I won't let another person die because I was weak!_ "Moka, please, leave me and go!" He tried to push her away from himself, dead set on doing a dead run towards Saizou. When a small clink was heard from behind him.

He blinked for a moment, as he pulled his hand back to find something clutched in his palm.

The Rosario.

"Uh-oh." He mumbled, as he turned to a surprised Moka beside him.

Moka only had a moment to gasp before she was engulfed in a dark aura. Ichigo covered his eyes from the aura and peaked through his fingers to see what was happening to his friend. What he was seeing was freaky, to say the least. Her hair turned silver and her fangs became more pronounced. He body also seemed to fill out. As Moka seemed to become more aware, Ichigo could see that her eyes had turned red and slitted.

Then, something even stranger happened for the boy.

The aura that was coming from her…hit him. But, instead of going around him…it went through him. Then, he felt empty. Like, wind was passing through his body.

He tried to take a breath but found he couldn't. Time seemed freeze around him, as the energy continued to engulf his being, almost like it was being sucked into him.

It was…a rush. His eyes widened, as he felt a thrust of…energy go through him, then suddenly be thrust outward. He cringed in pain, trying to cry out as he felt his mind feel like mush around him, his body weaken, and his world go blurry around him.

He saw blackness. He should have been seeing his clothes. He saw blackness. _Have I gone blind?_ He wondered, as he closed his eyes, feeling very weak all of a sudden…letting the darkness…take him…

…

…

…

…Pop.

Ichigo's eyes opened suddenly, energy coursing through him, awakening him instantly. He felt like he was on a sugar rush. His eyes narrowed at the rush, before he quickly looked back to where Moka stood, expecting to see the same pink-haired girl from before and think he was hallucinating just before his death.

He was wrong, and there was the new, silver-haired, red eyed, _fanged_ Moka, standing proudly above him. His eyes widened at the older looking Moka before him, the aura still coursing around her, but in control now.

"It can't be!" Saizou gasped, stepping back like he was seeing the devil himself, "Just like the legends! Such intense super natural energy! This…this is a true vampire!!"

Now fully transformed, she turned to Saizou and teased him. "What's wrong, rogue one? You want me right? Just try and take me by force. Won't you?" She smirked as she laughed at him mockingly.

Saizou's eyes widened for a moment, before he growled and roared, "I won't be mocked by a woman!" Howling, he suddenly rushed forward.

Ichigo meant to yell at her to move, but no words came out. He tried again. Nothing.

As Saizou made a move to knock a few teeth out of her mouth, Moka moved in a blur, appearing now in front of Ichigo and the raging Saizou. Suddenly, a single, powerful kick smashed his jaw and sent him flying with a large amount of dark blood coming from his mouth. "Attacking me with such weak power. You are beneath my power. Know your place!"

Saizou crashed through not one, but several dead trees before coming to an abrupt stop, broken, unconscious, but otherwise alive. Pity.

Everything was silent, as Moka stood passively by, Ichigo moving around on the ground to stand up, which was, oddly, easy, despite his injuries he once…he once…felt…

His eyes widened slightly. _What happened to the pain?!_ He wondered, as he looked himself over and, oddly, all the pain was gone. No blood. No injuries. Nothing. He felt…great.

"A low class monster like you who has nothing to show for his size doesn't even make a decent opponent." Moka said angrily to the downed Saizou, before she turned around and looked Ichigo in the eyes with her own, red, slightly creepy, eyes.

"Uh…Moka?" He questioned, unsure of who…or what he was seeing right now, nor being aware he regained the ability to speak. He tried to look away from her eyes, but they seemed to have a spell upon them, as he tried and failed to look away from them again and again.

"Are you hurt, Kurosaki Ichigo? Shall I take you to the infirmary?" She asked, as the boy blinked uncertainly before shaking his head, breaking the spell of the eye contact.

"Uh, no, that'll be alright. I'm fine." He said with small smile, still unsure of how he felt as…well…_good_, as he did.

Moka scanned him over quickly, looking over any possible injuries on his person, before nodding and grinned, her fangs coming out of her lips slightly. "What's the matter? Are you scared? Of this me?"

Ichigo just blinked uncertainly, back into the spell of the eye contact. "I…uhm…"

She smiled slightly brighter, as her milky white hand went his cheek, ran over it, before pulling back some still wet blood. She held her finger to her mouth, as he watched with slight surprise as she licked it clean. "Hmm, your blood really is enticing. I can see why my sleeping self likes it so much."

She reached out again and he felt her hand brush against his. "Don't be afraid, I have no intention of harming you." He noticed she now held the rosary that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding still. "Until we meet again, Kurosaki Ichigo, you had better baby sit the sentimental other Moka." She placed the rosary back on the end of the chain she wore around her neck.

With that, the older-looking Moka reattached her Rosario to the chain. In a flash of light, her hair changed back to pink and everything about her softened back into the Moka that Ichigo knew all to well. She was sleeping and falling to the ground from her standing position, at which Ichigo stopped her decent by catching her.

Looking at the beautiful girl in his arms, he knew things would **not** be easy. He could only imagine how being friends with a beautiful vampire, with two personalities, would complicate his life. But even contemplating that, he still smiled at her. Carefully, he swung an arm under her legs and began to carry her bridal style back to the academy. Though she was asleep he spoke to her.

"I have the strangest friends." He said with a slight chuckle; as he felt the girl, almost in an agreeing like way, snuggle into his arms for confirmation.

At that moment, he confirmed two things.

One, he would be staying at this bizarre, monster infested, _dangerous_ school.

And two, when he got back home in three years…if he did, that is, he'd kill his dad for this.

Oh...and three, one last reminder. The darkness he saw, instead of his clothes, just before the rush of energy...wasn't the darkness of unconsciousness.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Some unknown distance away, Isshin Kurosaki sneezed into his dinner of soup, before wiping his nose and smiling brightly for some reason. "Ichigo must be ticked with me for sending him there still." He thought aloud, as he shook his head before returning to his soup with delight, unknown to the happenings that were to happen at the school, and in his own home.

* * *

**And, that is it. My first Bleach story. Tell me what you think.**


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